Irish Water have set restrictions on water usage from 7pm tonight (March 5th) till 7am tomorrow morning (March 6th) for the Greater Dublin Area.
Irish Water will reduce water pressure in Dublin, parts of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath following increased demand for water supply due to Storm Emma.
In the Greater Dublin Area Irish Water saw an increase of over 10% in demand from Friday to Sunday. Despite plants working at peak output, storage of water in the reservoirs was significantly depleted.
“Demand is continuing to rise and our reservoir levels continue to drop. There is not enough water in our reservoirs to meet the current levels of demand,” said Irish Water.
The restrictions are essential to allow reservoirs to refill as repairs to bursts and leaks are underway, while hospitals on the network will be prioritised and have water diverted to them.
A reduction in water pressure needs to be put in place to minimise the impact on homes and businesses and to avoid widespread outages.
In a statement, Irish Water said:
“Homes will have storage in their attic tanks and businesses should also have storage on site. On high ground and on the extremities of the network, people may experience some outages.
“Crews have been mobilised across Dublin and prioritising the biggest bursts. Over the weekend three bursts in the North Docklands, Infirmary Road and Skerries were repaired saving the equivalent of the daily water usage of Balbriggan which has a population of around 25,000.”
You can conserve water by:
- taking shorter showers, 4 minutes or less as an average shower uses 10 litres of water per minute.
- turning off the tap when brushing your teeth as a running tap can use up to six litres of water per minute.
- keeping a jug of water in the fridge as waiting for a tap to run cold water to drink can waste more than 10 litres of water in a day.
- reducing use of dishwashers and washing machines, only using when full.
Any visible leaks should be reported to Irish Water on 1850 278 278.
