Alliance has rejected Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd's claims that NI Water's funding model is 'fit for purpose'.

Alliance Infrastructure spokesperson, Andy McMurray, accused the Minister of "burying his head in the sand" over the funding issues and stated that the Minister rejected evidence from the construction sector that overstretched water infrastructure is preventing thousands of new homes from being built.

Mr McMurray said: "It is deeply frustrating to see the Infrastructure Minister burying his head in the sand over NI Water's funding, despite the overwhelming evidence on the devastating impact that chronic underinvestment in our water infrastructure is having on our economy, housing and environment.

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"NI Water has explicitly stated that its investment plans are being held hostage by its funding arrangements and expert after expert has come forward in recent weeks to plea for some creative thinking to address the crisis facing our water infrastructure.

"In that context, it is very disappointing to hear the Minister claim that the funding model works and treat developer contributions as some sort of panacea for housebuilding, when in all likelihood all that policy would do is increase the price for families when they're buying a home."

The South Down MLA also offered his party's solution to the wastewater infrastructure issue, highlighting its blueprint which calls for a mutualised model to allow NI Water to borrow, along with a wider suite of proposals to put the body's funding on a sustainable footing and support it to deliver desperately needed investment.

"I would urge the Minister to take heed of these ideas, rather than continuing to downplay the crisis facing our water and wastewater infrastructure," said Mr McMurray.

Alliance's full policy document 'In Deep Water: The Alliance Party's Plan to Fix Northern Ireland's Broken Water and Wastewater Infrastructure' can be found here.