Water restrictions to go on for immediate future

NIGHT-TIME WATER restrictions in parts of Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow are to continue for the immediate future as reservoirs are not being replenished as quickly as hoped.

Dublin City Council, the lead water authority for the region, said yesterday’s reopening of many businesses after the holiday period had brought an expected rise in demand.

The situation was exacerbated by less than expected savings over the previous night. A council spokesman said just 20 million litres of water had been saved – about half the expected amount.

The council said it would be a number of days before the full impact of the slow rise in storage levels could be assessed. As a result it would continue with restrictions at least until Friday, and likely longer. Restrictions will be phased in across 19 areas in the city. Water tankers would continue to be out during the day.

The council asked members of the public to continue to report broken water mains and to conserve water as much as possible. Details of the restrictions up to this Friday are on the council’s website, dublincity.ie.

In Northern Ireland, just 160 homes were without water yesterday – down from 1,000 homes on Sunday, according to Northern Ireland Water. The authority said remaining homes appeared to be in rural areas and on high ground.

It appealed to householders to check pipes on their property and to check all vacant buildings. It said if the problem is on a householder’s property they should call a plumber. If a number of neighbours were cut off it was likely to be a burst main.

Wicklow County Council offered similar advice, saying “the problem is often caused by water freezing solid in the service pipe which connects a property to the council’s supply mains”. In such cases the difficulty rests with the householder, who may have little option but to await a thaw.

Kildare County Council said it was making good progress in repairing burst mains, but restrictions would remain in place until 8am this morning to allow reservoirs to recover.

Cork City Council said night-time restrictions would continue to apply in a few areas of the city tonight between 7pm and 10am tomorrow. A revised map outlining the affected areas is available on the council’s website. It is hoped these areas will be reduced further in coming days.

Water was shut off in Limerick city last night and the situation will be monitored again this morning.

In Galway, water has been restored to most households in the city, but a small number still appeared to have difficulties.

Water continued to be deployed at the bottle bank site on the Western Distributor Road in Knocknacarra, and on the east side, close to Ballybane Church.

Waterford City Council said there were no disruptions to water supplies in the city yesterday. However, the council said there continued to be extra demand due to the recent adverse weather conditions.

Minister for the Environment John Gormley said yesterday that decades of underinvestment in the water mains network and unpredictable weather were behind the current difficulties.

Mr Gormley said a key solution to the problem was water charges, which he said would go “hand in hand” with an improved water supply.

Previous governments “got rid of water charges”, a move which he described as “irresponsible”. “How stupid can you get?” he asked.

But even with charges, the Minister said a concerted effort and investment would be needed to renew the network over a 10-year period.