Amid increasing concerns about under-pressure water supplies across the country, Uisce Éireann is preparing for the introduction of a hosepipe ban.
The Regional Water Operations Manager for the Eastern Region, Stephen Burke, said there have been concerns over water supplies in the greater Dublin area for some time, and these concerns have now spread to other parts of the country.
They are seeing a record high usage of drinking water, Mr Burke said, with current daily demand of 2 billion litres a day.
He said the utility would like to avoid a hosepipe ban but pointed out the purpose of a water conservation order is to protect supplies.
“We continue to be concerned about the greater Dublin area. That would be Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and parts of Meath, but we’re becoming increasingly concerned now about multiple parts of the rest of the country.
“There are parts of Wexford under pressure, south Tipperary, parts of east Limerick, west Cork, west Kerry, north Donegal, mid-Galway, south Mayo.”
Mr Burke said a number of restrictions are in areas already and a full update on those can be found on water.ie.
“We have a number of restrictions in place in Cashel and in parts of Meath and Louth and localised places right around the country. I suppose for live updates on that, I would ask everybody to refer to our website.”
Mr Burke said Uisce Éireann has already had to tanker water from areas that are not under pressure to areas that are.
He urged consumers to help conserve supplies and report any leaks that they might encounter.
There are some very simple measures that everyone can take that will make a tangible difference, Mr Burke added.
“If people just hang up the hose, maybe avoid watering the garden as much as possible. Take shorter showers. Don’t leave your taps running. You know, even keeping a jug of water in the fridge will ensure you have a nice cold glass of water available whenever you want it, as opposed to running the tap for a minute to get a cool drop out of it.”