Irish Water is urging the public to conserve water while the prolonged dry spell continues. Demand for water right across Donegal continues to increase and some areas have been identified as at-risk of shortages.
The state of water supplies in Ireland has been described as ‘critical’ this week as reservoir levels drop.
Irish Water and Donegal County Council are monitoring all supplies across the county on a daily basis and the two at-risk schemes that have been identified are the Lough Mourne and Milford public water supplies. Customers on these supplies are urged to conserve water wherever possible, such as taking short showers rather than baths, not using a hose to water the garden or wash cars and keeping paddling pools very shallow.
In many of Irish Water’s schemes around the country, supply and demand were already under pressure and the spell of warm weather has exacerbated this situation. 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.
Already some areas in Athlone, Kilkenny, Longford and north Dublin have experienced outages and restrictions and areas in Donegal, Galway, Limerick and Mullingar have been identified as being at risk. Irish Water’s Drought Management Team is meeting daily and is monitoring water supplies and demand around the country.
Commenting on the situation, Irish Water’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Kate Gannon said:
“We are very grateful to the public for all efforts to conserve water. As we can see from the drop in demand in the Greater Dublin Area overnight, every small measure has a positive impact. We were very encouraged for example to see Dublin Bus commit to only washing their fleet every three days instead of every day.
“However, we have a long way to go. If the drought is prolonged, water restrictions will become unavoidable if demand does not continue to drop. Irish Water is appealing to the public to be continue to be mindful of their water usage. Every effort someone makes in their home or business impacts their neighbour and community. Irish Water have lots of tips for conserving water in the home, garden and business on water.ie.
“Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme teams are on the ground now but we also need the public’s support to reduce their water usage. 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 situation remains critical and we are continuing to seek the public’s help. Every effort the public make to conserve water will help to minimise risk of supply loss to them and their community.”
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