Appeals to conserve water or face supply restrictions

Irish Water is appealing to the public to conserve water as a prolonged dry spell has been predicted by Met Éireann. Demand for water is increasing while levels in rivers and lakes are dropping significantly which means that is there is less water available to treat and supply to homes and businesses.

This year has seen extended dry spells and Met Éireann has compared this to 1976 when drought conditions were experienced across the country.

Irish Water’s Drought Management Team are monitoring water supplies and demand on a daily basis.

In the Greater Dublin Area, supplied in part by Roundwood reservoir, where Irish Water can sustainably produce 610 mega litres of water per day, demand has risen to concerning levels. In the summer of 2017, an average of 565 mega litres of water per day was used. However, last Friday in the Greater Dublin Area 602 mega litres of water was used which is very close to the limit of sustainable production.

Commenting on the ongoing situation, Irish Water’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Kate Gannon said,

‘If demand does not decrease we will start to see homes and businesses on the edge of the network in the Greater Dublin Area experience shortages. The longer this continues, the more people will be at risk of shortages and outages.