Threat of daytime cut-offs across country
IRISH Water will be forced to extend supply cut-offs across the country and introduce daytime water restrictions unless there is sustained rainfall.
However, a status yellow drought warning remains in place, and Met Éireann says there is little sign of heavy rainfall on the horizon. As a result, water will be turned down to a trickle in thousands of households in greater urban areas.
Water restrictions will be imposed across the Greater Dublin Area from Monday, and are likely to last from midnight until 5am. However, these times could be extended if Irish Water does not believe enough is being conserved.
Restrictions are already in place across 14 counties where demand is exceeding supply, and Irish Water is expected to introduce night-time cutoffs across the Greater Dublin Area as part of efforts to avoid widespread shortages coming into the autumn.
But Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy raised the prospect of even more drastic restrictions warning there could be daytime cut-offs in the autumn.
Speaking in the Dáil, he said: “If we do not see significant rainfall in that period we run the risk of having daytime restrictions in our water services in September and into October.”
He said almost 140 water supply schemes across the State from a total of some 900 were at risk of failure, which could potentially affect more than 700,000 people.
Nine across Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath were in ‘severe’ drought, meaning demand was above supply. Another 51 were in drought condition, with 77 more at risk of drought.
“There appears to be little prospect of getting the levels of rainfall which would alleviate the drought conditions any time soon,” Mr Murphy told the Dáil. “I think it is prudent to introduce restrictions such as reduced water pressure at night on a much wider scale with a view to conserving our supplies longer term.
“It is not just for July or August we need to plan, but into September and even October. The over-riding concern will be for the longer term and the supply of drinking water in late summer and autumn.”
Irish Water produces more than 1.6 billion litres of water every day, but more than 40pc is lost through leaks. Some 610 million litres of water are generated across the Greater Dublin Area, with the latest data
showing demand standing at 568 million litres a day – which is higher than normal consumption for this time of year.
Irish Water said restrictions were needed to conserve water and allow supplies to return to normal levels.
Most households have 24 hours of storage in attic tanks, so shouldn’t be affected.
However, there is a risk that properties at the edge of the network or on higher ground will have no water at all.
Last March, restrictions were introduced during Storm Emma which affected some households throughout the day.
“Introducing restrictions was an option Irish Water hoped could be avoided because of the inevitable impact on homes and businesses,” corporate affairs manager Kate Gannon said.
“We are monitoring the situation, but the weather is not changing, the rain is not coming. Something has to be done to protect water supply and avoid widespread outages in the autumn.”
A spokesman for the National Federation of Group Water Schemes (NFGWS) said the sector, which serves more than 400,000 people, had seen a spike in demand but was “holding its own”.
In some cases, it was providing water to Irish Water where it had excess supply. The utility, and other private schemes, were also helping supplies at risk of running dry.