The solution to chaotic water problems such as those suffered over the Christmas and New Year period lies within the gift of the NI Executive.

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) NI's beleaguered water infrastructure could be upgraded by using the £1bn being spent on NI's divided society.

Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn (pictured) - who sponsored the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors manifesto launch at Stormont - said he's glad the RICS agreed with Alliance that "the cost of segregation has to be tackled head-on".

The RICS said that the money "annually wasted on managing division" - which Alliance has highlighted for years - should be put into improving our water infrastructure.

RICS NI Chair Prof Alastair Adair said some experts put the bill for funding a segregated society at £1.5bn.

"Division in our society costs Northern Ireland dear," he said, noting that the cost is evident in duplicated services, lost inward investment and the "negative impact on the workforce and education", he said.

The academic called for a "serious and open" debate on how to fund an update of our water service.

Professor Adair said domestic water charging could also provide the funds to improve the system: "It is the view of RICS Northern Ireland that water charging should be introduced as soon as possible to help protect the capital budget - but there is significant political and public resistance to this," he said.

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"If our politicians are not going to introduce domestic water charging, they need to look at other ways of funding investment," he said, suggesting that using money spent on division was an alternative and pointed out and this should be a "key aspect of the debate".

In full agreement, Lagan Valley MLA Trevor Lunn said: "We are glad to see that the RICS agrees and recognises that we need to urgently tackle the cost of segregation.

"We are also pleased that, like us, they recognise that an enormous amount of money must be spend on improving our water infrastructure.

"Every pound of Government money wasted is a pound less to be spent on vital projects such as the improvement of our water and sewerage services, education and the health service.

"So many people are coming round to the idea of tackling segregation and Alliance is very pleased that others are joining us in our campaign to end division in Northern Ireland," he said.

The call came against a background of problems over the festive period, when about 40,000 homes had their water supply disrupted during the freeze/thaw crisis with some people left without water for more than a week.

The very severe weather led to burst pipes and disrupted water supplies across Northern Ireland and the Chief Executive of NI Water, Laurence MacKenzie, resigned after his handling of the situation came under fire.

A review into what happened in the water crisis has been set up, with the utility regulator set to look into the role of NI Water in the crisis.

The NI Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy later hit out at those calling for his resignation over the Christmas water crisis, branding them "political opportunists".

The Sinn Fein Minister has refused to bow to pressure to resign and said this week: "I will not satisfy those political opportunists whose primary interest in this incident was to see what political advantage it might afford them.

"Their calls for my resignation are widely recognised for what they are, cynical exploitation of people's misery and hardship."

See: Few School Flood Closures 'Bonus'

(BMcC/GK)