Thousands face water usage restrictions ahead of weekend heatwave

The public enjoys the warm weather at the beach at Garretstown. However, conservation orders are in place in seven counties, with seven more counties experiencing "drought" conditions.

As Ireland heads into a heatwave this weekend, with temperatures as high as 26C, thousands of homes around the country are either without a mains water supply or face nightly usage restrictions.

Water supplies across Munster are among the worst hit. Conservation orders are in place in seven counties, with seven more counties experiencing "drought" conditions.

Restrictions are in place in Cork to conserve water in the Abbeystrowry Reservoir “due to the increased summer demand on the supply and ongoing dry weather”. Householders in Lisheens, Baltimore, Sherkin Island, Ballydehob, Schull, and Heir Island are affected.

In addition, Uisce Éireann said customers in nearby Crookhaven may experience low water pressure until 5pm on Friday as maintenance repairs are taking place at the treatment plant.

However, as this supply is also experiencing high user demand, it will also be necessary to have overnight restrictions in place until 7am on Monday, August 18.

A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann said: "We continue to monitor all of [the reservoir's] raw water, that is the water from lakes, rivers, springs and ground sources that feed our water treatment plants. While the majority of Ireland’s circa 700 public water supplies continue to meet the demand, 47 schemes nationwide are in drought status and are under active management to maintain supply levels."

Conservation orders 

Water conservation orders are currently in place for Waterford, Tipperary, Wexford, and Cork, excluding the city, as well as parts of Westmeath, Donegal, and Meath. Other supplies experiencing drought are across counties Galway, Laois, Clare, Limerick, Mayo, Monaghan, and Offaly. 

"Uisce Éireann has in place a number of measures to maintain and protect these supplies, including enhanced leakage repair works, tankering to reservoirs, pressure management and public water conservation campaigns in an effort to reduce demand to sustainable levels," the spokesperson said.

"Imposing a water conservation order is not a measure that Uisce Éireann takes lightly. These orders are introduced only when necessary to protect water supplies and avoid restrictions or outages."

Regardless of whether a supply is currently under a water conservation order, Uisce Éireann said it is appealing to all customers to be mindful of their water use.

Leak detection works may also cause supply disruptions to Union Hall and surrounding areas in Cork.

'Significant burst'

Elsewhere, Uisce Éireann crews had been working to repair a “significant burst” impacting water supply to Craughwell, Co Galway, and surrounding areas. The burst water main was bad enough to “significantly impact reservoir levels”.

Uisce Éireann warned it could take time for reservoirs to replenish and networks to refill. Mains repair works were scheduled to take place in and around Kenmare.

This was on top of work in the town that was expected to hit supplies to the Dromneavane Estate and surrounding areas, but it was completed by Thursday afternoon.

As with all supply restrictions and completed works, the utility recommended householders allow three to four hours after the estimated restoration time for supplies to return to normal.

The utility said that while a short spell of dry weather does not cause water shortages, it does need regular rainfall throughout the year to build up water supplies.