WATER supply in the Dublin area is "running on a knife edge" due to the leakage of several water pipes, according to the City Engineer.
Mr Jim Fenwick estimated that up to 10 million litres of water, almost two million gallons, were being lost daily due to leakage.
He said Dublin Corporation and other local authorities including Fingal County Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, were all "going through a very bad period" of leakages.
A notice from the corporation which appeared in The Irish Times on Saturday announced pressure reduction and asked customers to conserve water for the duration of the reductions.
Mr Fenwick said that although the corporation had largely overcome the problem over the weekend, consumers in the Fingal County Council area would still experience reduced water pressure.
"Fingal is experiencing a lot of leaks at the moment which affects supplies to the north of the city," said Mr Fenwick. He said Ballymun was the area worst affected by the leakages.
The reason for the leakage problem was twofold. "The average age of the water pipes is 60 years old with some up to 100 years old. This combined with the cold weather over the Christmas period caused some pipes to fracture and burst," he said.
Repairs which were being carried out on a major pipe, in the Customs House area over the weekend are now completed, according to Mr Fenwick. He said this should alleviate some of the water shortage as the pipe was losing up to one million gallons a day due to leakages.
Mr Fenwick said the corporation was carrying out a major water conservation programme after a study commissioned by the Department of the Environment found leakages running at almost 40 per cent of the total water provided for the city.