COMMERCIAL water users in County Wexford have been paying by a meter system for the past two years with creameries, dairy farmers and hotels being the biggest consumers.

Wexford County Council installed approximately 7,500 meters in commercial properties including shops, hairdressing salons and restaurants .

Everyone in Wexford who runs a business pays for water by the cubic metre, based on how much they use. Commercial water use accounts for 25 to 30 per cent of the supply.

The average total amount of water used throughout the county is 45,000 cubic metres every day.

Commercial users pay ¤1.26 per cubic metre and those in urban areas also pay ¤1.45 per cubic metre for sewerage services, if they are connected to the main sewerage scheme.

In the agricultural sector, dairy farmers are the biggest water consumers, which is easy to understand when one discovers that a dairy cow can drink 135 litres of water a day. Dry stock will drink 45 litres.

A farmer with 50 milking cows will use 2,000 cubis metres of water in a year, amounting to a ¤2,800 water bill.

In the industrial sector, creameries are among the biggest users, while in the services sector, hotels are significant consumers. Caravan parks are also high users during the summer months.

Business premises can pay anything from ¤500 to ¤4,000 a year, depending on their usage. Bills are sent out twice a year.

While Wexford County Council has increased its capacity by about 20 per cent over the past decade, water conservation is a big challenge, according to senior executive engineer Gerry Forde.

Up to 10 years ago, the water supply in Wexford town was routinely turned off at night during the summer months to save stocks. That is no longer the case.

Most of the extra capacity is due to conservation measures, including the replacement of leaky pipes in an old network, and continuous monitoring.

The county has been divided into 15 different zones for monitoring purposes and regular checks are carried out to detect wastage.

Approximately 60 per cent of the county's water supply comes from rivers and 40 per cent from bore holes.