DESERT IRELAND
» Water supplies are critically low & tanks brought in
IRELAND’S water supply has fallen to a dangerous low as the heatwave continues and most of the country won’t have rain for a week.
Water tanks were brought in to bone-dry counties as temperatures hit a sizzling 32C at Shannon Airport. Irish Water admitted it is operating “on a knife edge” and reduced pressure as usage in Dublin soared.
The worryingly high demand means we are now delving into stock needed for the months ahead.
In Co Longford, mum Ann Kelly, 35, is filling containers from the emergency tanks and said: “There is no water in my house, not a drop.”
WATER supplies in parts of the country are at breaking point as many parts of Ireland face another WEEK without rain.
Emergency supplies were shipped into several counties yesterday as Irish Water admitted it was “operating on a knife edge”.
As the temperature peaked at 32C in Shannon Airport, Co Clare, it emerged:
■ Every day, Dublin is guzzling 5 million litres more than the safe limit;
■ Water pressure was reduced in the capital to stem daily consumption of 615 million litres, and
■ We’re using supplies meant for later this summer.
While showers are forecast for the south-east on Sunday, Irish Water general manager Eamon Gallen said some areas have had their supply cut off temporarily.
He added: “Overall there are about 10,000 people affected, about 7,000 of those are in Kilkenny.
“We have four areas we consider high risk, Donegal, Galway, Limerick and Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
NETWORK
“The network in places including Dublin is not resilient to extreme weather – either freezing or sun.
“We are now using July’s water supply in June – that’s unsustainable.”
In Granard, Co Longford, the public were filling up on supplies as a number of households experienced a shortage in supplies.
Ann Kelly, 35, from nearby Feriskill, said she has no water in her house and has been told it may not return for days.
She said there are seven people in her house with two visitors arriving at the weekend.
But she doesn’t know how she will cope refilling up to 20 large bottles a day from tanks at Granardkill cemetery with only her seven-year-old daughter Susie Feitosa Vaz, and her niece Caroline Fox to help.
She said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. I have seven people living in my house and I’m expecting two relatives from Scotland on Saturday.
“There is no water in my house, not a drop. The council said there was a restriction in place from 10.30pm at night until 7am but we haven’t any water at all.
“I have young kids who need to drink and men that need to have a shower in the evening after work.
“The house is located on the top of a hill so that’s probably not helping either as it’s harder for the water supply to get to it. I have been told the restrictions will be in place until possibly Tuesday. I don’t know how I will cope until then, the house is going through around 20 bottles of water a day.”
Further restrictions are also in place in Co Westmeath and Co Laois.
Restrictions on water were due to begin last night in Co Westmeath from 10pm to 6am.
Irish Water have identified 100 water supply schemes around the country that are now at risk.
Customers in Kilkenny, Longford, Athlone, North Galway, Louth and have already experienced restricted water supply and outages in some cases with almost 4,000 customers impacted.
Areas in Cork, Wicklow, Limerick, Kilkenny, Carlow, Tipperary, Clare, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal have been identified as being at risk.
Parts of Galway, Roscommon, Laois, Limerick, Kerry, Waterford and Offaly could also face restrictions.
Mr Gallen told RTE’S Morning Ireland: “The maximum we can produce [in Dublin] is 610 million litres and on Tuesday demand hit 603 million litres and that was actually down on the previous 24 hours where demand was 609 million litres.
“We would be encouraging people not to use garden hoses or power washers to wash cars, keep paddling pools shallow, if used at all, shorter showers instead of bathe and not to run taps when brushing teeth.”
Meanwhile, bookies suspended betting on the 131-year-old record being broken for the highest temperkerry ature ever recorded in Ireland. Mercury levels hit their highest ever point on June 26, 1887, when 33.3C was recorded in Kilkenny Castle.
Just like the present day, back then Ireland was in the middle of a particularly hot and dry spell particularly in the south-east
A Paddy Powers spokesman said: “We’ve had to pull the plug on this market due to the volume of bets we’ve seen on Ireland sizzling its way past all previous known records.”