Roger Milne

1 week ago | thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne

MPs on a UK parliamentary committee have recommended that the Northern Ireland Executive should reconsider introducing domestic water charges. Such a move could go some way to offset publicly-owned NI Water’s chronic underfunding of creaking wastewater infrastructure. However, such a measure is currently beyond the pale politically.

3 weeks ago | thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne

The Northern Ireland Government has announced it is calling in forensic accountants to investigate why NI Water has gone into the red. The decision by infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins comes after the publicly owned company  informed her department of an estimated overspend of about £3m. At one point, the excess was nearer £5m. The accountants are expected to report within about six weeks. Kimmins’ department has responsibility for water policy and the company.

2 months ago | acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Brigid Lynch |Julie Bassett |Roger Milne |Alpa Patel

INTRODUCTION Most studies that have estimated the burden of cancer attributable to physical inactivity have been guided by World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research risk factor grading criteria from their Third Expert Report.1 For example, the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Cancer Risk Factor Collaborators used these criteria, and estimated the cancer disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to breast and colorectal cancer around the world.

2 months ago | thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne

Northern Ireland’s newly installed Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins, has stressed that improving the region’s creaking wastewater infrastructure is a priority. She acknowledged the cost would be eye watering. “Improving our sewerage systems will be a huge exercise, costing billions and taking decades,” she stated. She is, however, expected to toe the line and maintain Sinn Féin’s opposition to domestic water charging.

2 months ago | thewaterreport.co.uk | Roger Milne

A consortium led by Northern Ireland Water and power company, Mutual Energy, is examining the feasibility of building what would be the region’s first pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) scheme in County Antrim. In conventional PHES designs, surplus electricity is used to pump water from a lower reservoir to a higher one during periods of low prices to be released downhill, powering turbines to generate electricity at times of greater demand.