Residents at boiling point over water cuts

October 1990

HOUSEHOLDERS in County Wicklow are making impassioned pleas to Wicklow County Council to leave water supplies switched on in the evenings.

But according to the council, the recent rains have had no effect on the water shortage and rationing will continue for at least another month.

The water rationing, introduced by the council after a record-breaking dry summer, means that the taps of thousands of houses in the northern and eastern parts of the county run dry before 8 o’clock each evening. And supplies stay off until 7 a.m.

The rationing measures were introduced by the council over four weeks ago to conserve existing water supplies after reserves in the Roundwood reservoir reached a critical all-time low.

And the Progressive Democrats in Wicklow have issued a statement calling on the council to leave the water switched on until at least 9 p.m.

‘Switching off the water supply in the evening is posing difficulties for families, especially working parents who only return from work late,’ they said.

But according to Wicklow County Council, the rationing looks set to continue for at least another month.

‘Although there has been rain recently, it hasn’t been in sufficient quantities to raise the level of the reservoir at Roundwood,’ explained council spokesman, Ultan McCabe, this week. ‘It’s still almost empty.’

He estimated that a further three or four inches of rain will have to fall before the council will consider turning on nighttime supplies again, and normally this could take a month to happen.

‘We’d be very foolish to turn it on now before water levels rose and then find ourselves in the middle of a dry winter,’ he said.