THE GREAT SWIMMING POOL DIVIDE
Lidl to roll out huge garden pools... despite Irish Water warnings
LIDL is to go ahead with plans to sell massive ‘back garden’ swimming pools that need as much as 7,500 litres of water – even after Irish Water warned that sweltering temperatures will lead to shortages.
While the Green Party demanded the pools should be withdrawn, the discount store explained they will be very popular with families – and a filter means they don’t have to be emptied until summer ends. The pools, which cost just €119.99 each,
go on sale in stores around the country on Thursday next week.
Irish Water yesterday issued fresh shortage alerts, saying: ‘The top three measures that people can take are: not using a hose to water the garden or wash cars; keeping paddling pools very shallow if they are being used; and taking short showers rather than baths.’
The utility’s Drought Management Team is monitoring water supplies and demand around the country daily. Already some areas in Athlone, Kilkenny and north Dublin have restrictions and areas in Co. Donegal and Mullingar in Co. Westmeath are at risk.
Asked about concerns over water shortages, Lidl said: ‘There’s a filter in the pool so it’s not a regular thing of throw the water out and start again, there’s a filter and that’s the reason behind that. You can keep the water in it and filter it and empty it at the end of the summer.’
However, Green Party TD Eamon Ryan said: ‘I think they should withdraw them from the market as a message of solidarity with everyone else. In my local river, the Dodder, I can see rocks, it’s gone down so low. It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen it.
‘I can remember the very dry summer in 1976 and by the time we got to mid-July and August we had all sorts of hosepipe bans and restrictions. We’re
‘It’s gone down so low, I can see rocks’
not there yet, but if it keeps going this way we will be there very quickly.’
He pleaded: ‘Lidl is a responsible company, they should show some responsibility and be part of a collective effort just to be careful with water use in the next while, and pulling the pools would be a perfect symbol of that.’
Friends of the Earth Europe chairperson Dr Cara Augustenborg said: ‘It’s clear from the warnings that Irish Water has announced that this is about the last thing we should be doing right now – going out and buying a big pool and filling it up with water. If we continue with this heatwave and that, of course, increases water use among the population, we’re going to end up having to cut certain areas off because we don’t have enough per day to supply water to everyone if everyone goes out and does something like that.’
She added: ‘Most of the population is on the coastline and we are blessed with a lot of Blue Flag beaches, so if you want to cool off it’s a good time to go down to your local Blue Flag beach and have a paddle.’ Met Éireann meteorologist Siobhán Ryan said Ireland could be basking in the second highest temperatures ever by the end of this
week. She said: ‘Over the next few days it is only going to get hotter. We are looking at temperatures from Wednesday to Friday of mid to high 20s on average and there is a very reasonable chance they could reach 30C to 31C in some parts of the country.’ The highest temperature previously was 33.3C in 1887 and she said: ‘There has only been a handful of times that temperatures exceeded 30C and no more. We could be looking at the second highest temperature in Ireland before the week’s end.’
She also told RTÉ’s Six One News: ‘Often we find when the weather is good in Ireland it is bad in other parts of Europe. You have this continental or tropical air that has been moving up across the country from Africa.
‘It has been pumping up this heat across the country and the high pressure is static and it is not going anywhere. It is compressing the air.’ Met Éireann has issued a yellow weather
warning as the country is officially experiencing a heatwave – because we have had five consecutive days when temperatures exceeded 25C.
Meanwhile, Irish Water said that ‘unprecedented dry spells’ had resulted in concern over water supplies and exacerbated problems in areas already experiencing low supplies.
Low water levels in rivers and lakes means there is less available. ‘The longer this dry spell and high demand continues, the more likely the risk of restrictions across the country,’ a spokesman said. According to Irish Water, 610million litres of water can be produced every day to serve the greater Dublin area, but we came ‘very close to the limit of sustainable production’ last Friday when 602million litres were used.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Tesco said the retailer has seen a huge demand for outdoor furniture, garden equipment including barbecues, sun cream and seasonal clothes as well as barbecue meats, ice creams, salads, fruits, beers and ciders.
Barbecues are ‘flying off the shelves’, according to Woodies director Damien Dwyer, while O’Shea’s hardware store in Charleville, Co. Cork, said it is struggling to restock its barbecues to meet demand.
Meanwhile, Topline Mullingar Hardware in Co. Westmeath reported: ‘We have sold so many garden furniture sets we barely have a few left to display, but we are ordering more.
Bríd Fahy of Linnalla Irish Ice Cream, near the Burren in Co. Clare, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I couldn’t even count how many ice creams we’ve been selling since the weather got warm, but it’s a lot. We’ve been too busy to count. christian.mccashin@dailymail.ie
Dublin ‘came very close to limit’