Author: Ollan Herr

What is Phosphorus: Phosphorus is a natural resource used as a fertiliser in the production of food.  Almost all phosphorus rock is mined in countries outside of Europe, making the EU potentially vulnerable to a future phosphorous and therefore a food shortage.   What is the phosphorus problem?: Phosphorus is key element in fertilizer for the production of food crops. As the...

The talk about probable future rising oil prices and the recent debate about water charges in Ireland might give reason for some to plan for long term sustainability issues; such as reducing energy use and water use. But there is another reason to be interested in a simple pump free systems – there are less things which can go wrong...

An article in the Irish times last week looked at how Copenhagen microbrewer Nørrebro Bryghus collected 54,000 litres of urine from festival-goers in order to make a beer caller “Pisner”. The urine was transformed into fertiliser and yielded it into 11 tonnes of malting barley. After harvesting and brewing the malting barley, the beer will hit the market in June this year....

Project: WISER Life at the Rediscovery Centre Where: Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland When: March 2017 While Ireland is being taken to court by the European Commission over its inadequate waste water treatment in over 30 urban areas, the new Rediscovery Centre building in Ballymun has undertaken to treat its own waste water on an independent basis through the WISER Life project....

A Working Example in Dublin A Herr Reed Bed System was installed in 2013 to treat the grey water at the Airfield Trust farm in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland in 2013. Airfield has 40 acres of fields, farm animal enclosures, formal gardens and a visitor centre for the many day visitors who arrive at this family-friendly city-surrounded green space. www.airfield.ie  ...

San Francisco in the USA now requires the treatment of grey water for the purpose of recycling. In Ireland also we permit the treatment and recycling of grey water for re use for toilets. The water stress crisis in California is causing problems for this USA State. Climate change is causing lower snow accumulation on mountains in recent years. This is one of many...

In a headline article in The Irish Times on the 1st June 2016, it states that the abolition of the charges would put Ireland in breach of European rules on the water framework directive and Europe’s “polluter pays” principle. What is the Polluter Pays Principle?  In 1992 at the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development – Principle 16 states:  “National...

Should a system to permanently reduce Irish Water charges be provided for the Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin? In a recent Irish Times article, Ronan McGreevy writes “Irish Water says households are still liable for bills. Utility states customers must pay outstanding balances despite suspension of charges”. Olivia Kelly, also for the Irish Times, reports: “The redevelopment of the former Irish Glass...

In Cliff Taylor’s recent Irish Times article, “Water deal thwarts new way to raise money for infrastructure“, he summarizes his article by saying that the likely compromise between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will either mean less money for water or less for other areas of economy. How will any future investment in Irish Water be spent? I think that...

The motivation to spend extra money for environmental reasons only is often not there, even for so-called environmentalists. Why would a new family whose budget is very tight choose to spend money on a system to reduce their mains water consumption, if the mains water was available for free anyway? This question however is more relevant if short term economics prevail...