{"id":547950,"date":"2026-07-13T19:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/547950\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T19:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:36:11","slug":"six-week-hosepipe-ban-issued-for-parts-of-east-of-country-amid-ongoing-hot-weather-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/547950\/","title":{"rendered":"Six-week hosepipe ban issued for parts of east of country amid ongoing hot weather \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Water restrictions have been introduced for all of Dublin and parts of surrounding counties as Uisce \u00c9ireann<\/a> warns of dwindling supplies as the hot, dry weather<\/a> continues. <\/p>\n

A formal \u201cwater conservation order\u201d, commonly known as a hosepipe ban, will be in effect for six weeks, beginning at a minute past midnight on Thursday and running until midnight on August 26th. <\/p>\n

It applies to Dublin and south Tipperary as well as parts of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Wexford. <\/p>\n

The order makes it an offence to use water for a number of specified unnecessary purposes including watering domestic gardens.<\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann said the move was necessary to safeguard supplies for drinking, cooking, sanitation and other essential purposes after use increased dramatically in recent weeks. <\/p>\n

Nationally, domestic water use is about 20 per cent above typical levels, resulting in \u201csustained pressure\u201d on reservoirs and water treatment plants. <\/p>\n

In the Greater Dublin Area, which includes Dublin and parts of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, daily water use reached record levels last week, hitting a daily high of 693 million litres \u2013 50 million litres above average. <\/p>\n

The hot spell is due to continue for another week and no rain of significance is forecast, meaning reservoirs and river sources will continue to deplete. <\/p>\n

Margaret Attridge, head of water operations with Uisce \u00c9ireann, said the priority was ensuring enough water was available for everyone to meet essential needs. <\/p>\n

Although the formal order applies to six counties, she urged customers everywhere to use water conservatively. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat means avoiding outdoor uses that can place significant pressure on supplies, checking for leaks, reusing water where practical and making small changes indoors that can quickly add up,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about protecting treated drinking water for the things that matter most \u2013 homes, hospitals, vulnerable customers, farms, businesses and essential services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hosepipe bans specifically prohibit the use of hosepipes for watering gardens, washing cars or privately owned leisure boats, and filling or maintaining a domestic swimming pool or paddling pool except where the latter is small enough to be filled using \u201chand-held containers filled directly from a tap\u201d. <\/p>\n

Domestic ponds and ornamental fountains also come under the ban except for fish ponds. <\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann said it may be necessary to extend the order to other uses or for a longer period if current weather conditions become prolonged. <\/p>\n

The hot, dry spell \u2013 the third since late May \u2013 has diminished water supplies nationally and night-time restrictions are already in place in 39 areas. <\/p>\n

These include parts of Meath, Wexford, Tipperary, Donegal, Cavan, Longford, Galway, Laois, Limerick, Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Kilkenny. <\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann said water conservation orders were being considered for other parts of the country where supplies are under significant pressure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water restrictions have been introduced for all of Dublin and parts of surrounding counties as Uisce \u00c9ireann warns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,776,18335,15950],"class_list":["post-547950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-uisce-eireann","tag-weather-events","tag-weather-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}