After the deluge ... the shortages

Restrictions on water to stay ‘for the forseeable’

THE east of the country faces the prospect of water restrictions for the ‘foreseeable future’ in the wake of Storm Emma.

Water pressure was reduced for 1.2million people in Dublin from 7pm last night until 7am today as the fallout from last week’s weather continues.

Irish Water said this was necessary due to an increase in demand, with reservoir levels continuing to drop because of leaks in the system. And earlier yesterday, Irish Water boss Jerry Grant said he believed it would be necessary to restrict water pressures in the area for ‘the foreseeable future’.

The company yesterday issued a statement to say that due to significant depletions in its water reservoir levels, along with an ‘increase of over 10% in demand from Friday to Sunday’, a water restriction would be put in place in Dublin, parts of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath from 7pm last night to 7am this morning – when, it was hoped, water levels would ‘begin to return to normal levels’.

This comes after the demand on the system on Sunday was ‘20million litres a day higher than the day before’, Mr Grant said yesterday.

The utility’s managing director also said ‘we are currently about 60million litres more than our normal day usage’, adding: ‘That’s well over 50million litres more than our normal production.’ The Irish Water chief was speaking yesterday at the National Emergency Coordination Centre, where he said there had been restrictions in place in several parts of the country.

Mr Grant said: ‘The characteristic that all of these schemes have is that they have very low headroom.

‘In other words, our production capacity is only marginally ahead of normal usage on a normal day basis.’ He said the rise in demand of 10% to 20% is clearly outstripping supply.

‘We are clear in our minds now that we will have to have a multifaceted approach to the greater Dublin area over the coming days and weeks,’ Mr Grant continued.

‘That will involve appealing to people to conserve water, it will involve pressure management during the day where we can, it will involve a lot of additional crews on the ground finding and repairing leaks. But it will also require us to put on restrictions and we believe it will be necessary to restrict pressures from 7pm to 7am for the foreseeable future.’

Mr Grant said that ‘obviously the impacts of pressure reductions like that are not equal for everybody’, explaining: ‘People at the extremities of the system along high points tend to fare worst. But we really do have to conserve water if we are to meet demand.’ He further warned that ‘this is not something we will resolve in a day or two’.

A statement from Irish Water said the restriction was necessary ‘to allow our reservoirs to refill as repairs to bursts and leaks are under way’. ‘Hospitals on the network will be prioritised and have water diverted to them,’ it added.

This comes as a Status Orange weather warning for snow and ice was due to remain in place until 10am this morning, as deep-lying snow remained in some places, with the ‘continuing potential for localised flooding due to the thaw’, according to Met Éireann.

Temperatures are set to range between 5C and 8C this afternoon after a ‘predominantly cloudy and calm day, with a scattering of showers’. And Jim Casey from the Office of Public Works said it will continue ‘to monitor river levels and sea levels over the coming days’.

He said yesterday afternoon that ‘river levels in the east and south of the country have risen further in the past 24 hours due to snow melt and rainfall’. Mr Casey added: ‘The public and farmers are... advised to stay away from rivers and watercourses in the coming days as river levels are expected to further rise, particular on smaller, steeper, mountainous catchments.’

Meanwhile, Seán Hogan, chair of the National Emergency Coordination Group, asked people to continue to check on their neighbours and friends to ensure their safety as the recovery operation begins.

As of last night, some 1,566 Defence Forces personnel had been deployed to participate in a ‘range of tasks to support the civil authorities during the extreme weather event’. Meanwhile, Garda Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid appealed to members of the public who abandoned cars during the worst of the storm to collect their vehicles as they may now be hampering the clean-up operation.

Impact ‘not equal for everybody’