Several counties around the country are already experiencing shortages.
The current heatwave is being held responsible for the uptick in water consumption, and Irish Water have stated that water restrictions will need to be put in place to ensure there aren’t widespread shortages around the country.
As per their official website:
“Irish Water is warning the public that water restrictions will become unavoidable given the current trends as the demand levels for water in the Greater Dublin Area rose again overnight.
“Our Drought Management Team is meeting daily and is monitoring water supplies and demand around the country.”
RTE News are reporting that water restrictions have been put in place in Longford, from 10.30pm to 7am every night from now until Monday morning.
Additionally, parts of Athlone, Longford and North Dublin are already experiencing water shortages, while areas in Donegal, Galway, Limerick and Mullingar are at risk of outages and restrictions.
Kate Gannon, the Corporate Affairs Manager for Irish Water, stated:
“This is a very serious situation… every effort the public make to conserve water will benefit them and their community.
“If demand does not decrease we will start to see homes and businesses on the edge of the network in the Greater Dublin Area experience shortages, as happened in Skerries in recent weeks. The longer this continues, the more people will be at risk of shortages and outages.”
Irish Water have issued a series of tips to assist in limiting water usage, including taking showers instead of baths, and keeping a jug of water in the fridge.
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