Q&A: Everything you need to know ahead of likely hosepipe ban
Q. What is a hosepipe ban?
A. It’s the common term for a National Water Conservation Order – a legal power that Irish Water has to take actions to protect water supplies.
Q. Protect them from what?
A. In the current case, from unnecessary usage. That means anything that isn’t drinking, cooking, hygiene or manufacturing related.
Q. What specifically does it prohibit?
A. Watering gardens, filling pools – the inflatable paddling and more luxurious kind; washing cars and boats; filling fountains and ornamental ponds, except where there are fish; or generally using water for the fun of it.
Q. Why is Irish Water warning a ban is likely?
A. The fine weather that’s helped lift moods during lockdown has left water sources – rivers, lakes and groundwater – depleted. We’ve had the driest spring on record, summer has started the same way and there is no great amount of rain in sight.
Q. There are showers forecast for later this week – won’t that help?
A. It might keep gardeners away from their watering cans for a day or two, but it won’t replenish supplies – we need a persistent dose of heavy rain to make a difference.
Q. How big a dose?
A. To put it in context, in early July 2018 when the first stage of that summer’s hosepipe bans was implemented, the soil moisture deficit (how dry the ground is compared to normal) nationally was 60mm. It’s currently 80mm in places a month earlier. Average monthly summer rainfall is 50-60mm so even if we were to start getting normal summer rainfall right now, that water would simply be absorbed by a very thirsty ground and would not start refilling lakes and rivers.
Q. Is it worse than 2018?
A. It is shaping up to be, not just because of the rainfall shortage but because we have the added complication of vastly increased demand on water related to the lockdown.
Domestic water demand typically makes up two-thirds of national water demand and with so many people at home these past three months, domestic water usage has increased by 20pc. Increased handwashing has also played a role. In July 2018, when that summer’s crisis hit, demand was up 15pc.
An added complication is looming too. As businesses come out of lockdown, they will need to carry out deep cleaning and flush toilets and run showers to get rid of stagnant water as well as continue with additional ongoing cleaning, so commercial demand is expected to jump too.
Q. How extensive were the bans in 2018?
A. The first came into effect at the start of July in the Greater Dublin Area and it was extended a week later to the rest of the country. It was lifted in western counties at the end of August but continued in most of the rest of the country until the end of September. And it wasn’t just a hosepipe ban. Night-time restrictions were introduced which left supplies low or cut off entirely at night and some areas, particularly with low pressure, experienced trouble getting a flow going again in the mornings as a result.
Q. How soon is a hosepipe ban expected?
A. It’s considered a serious step, so a lot of data has to be presented – to explain the current situation and show it is likely to continue in the weeks ahead. That data is being compiled, but it could take another couple of weeks for the formal process to be completed.
Q. What should I do in the meantime?
A. Conserve, conserve, conserve. Don’t skimp on the handwashing but live with a dirty car, take the air out of the paddling pool and maybe buy a cactus.