Night time water restrictions come into force

REDUCTION IN PRESSURE FROM 10 P.M. TO 5 A.M.

NIGHT time water restrictions came into force in Bray and Shankill on Monday night.

The restrictions, which are in place between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., were introduced in the Greater Dublin area (which takes in Bray and Shankill) as a response to the drought that is currently being experienced.

The restrictions will remain in place until at least next Monday but could be extended.

Irish Water announced the restrictions last Friday saying the move was necessary ‘in a bid to protect future water supply for homes and businesses and avoid widespread outages in the autumn’.

It said: ‘Irish Water and the local authorities worked through over 800 district meter areas to establish where water supplies can be restricted and for how long while minimising the impact to homes and businesses. This was balanced against how much water can be saved through these restrictions. Areas around major hospitals have been protected and pressure will not be affected in those areas.’

The level 2 restriction will see no day-time restrictions but will result in ‘a reduction in the pressure at night-time to the minimal that is practical for normal pressure to reach the ground floor of a two storey house.

‘Most customers will experience low night-time pressures, but no loss of supply. Supply to some customers on high ground and at remote end of networks may reduce to trickle at kitchen sinks during those periods. In multi-storey buildings, customers may experience low night-time pressures depending on their building pumping and storage system.’

There are five levels of water restrictions, graded from one to five, with the first three resulting in no day-time restrictions. Irish Water said there are no current plans to go above Level 2, which is the level currently in force in the Greater Dublin area.

Speaking about the move, Irish Water engineer and water conservation expert, Kate Gannon, said: ‘Introducing restrictions was an option that Irish Water hoped could be avoided because of the inevitable impact on homes and businesses. The decision to lock down the restrictions to these areas was not taken lightly. If any customers are being adversely affected please call our Customer Care helpline on 1850 278 278 and this will allow us to identify any areas where an undue impact is being felt.’

Irish Water said it will continue to monitor the situation but said the night time restrictions will remain in place for one week and will then be re-assessed.