Dublin City Council said today water restrictions would remain in place until “probably the middle of next week”.
A spokesman for the council said while the supply is “heading in the right direction”, only 20 million litres of water was saved last night - half the amount hoped for.
He said the council will have a better idea of the effect of thousands of people returning to work after the holidays on the water system by tomorrow morning.
The council has decided to stagger the 7pm to 7am cuts so that the worst-affected areas are only without water every second night for the rest of this week.
The council had said the restriction to supply would remain in place until the middle of the month. However, Communications manager Michael Sands said yesterday that if the recovery at the reservoirs continued apace this week, the council should be able to move to pressure reductions only, rather than cuts, at night, in which case few residents would be aware of any restriction.
“Things are a lot better than they were, so fingers crossed from next week it will be a case of pressure reductions rather than shutdowns.”
The demand at the Dublin reservoirs on Sunday was 507 million litres, 36 million litres fewer than was produced by the city’s water treatment plants. The response to the council’s appeal to businesses to check premises which had been closed over Christmas for leaks, had been particularly successful, Mr Sands said.
“We’ve had fantastic co-operation from the general public and from businesses, but we would appeal to schools to check their buildings this week and not leave it until they open up next week.”
The council has also warned householders to be alert to bogus callers who may use the current water problems to gain access to houses. If asked to check taps, the householder should shut the front door fully and should be aware that council workers always carry identification.
Supply levels have improved across the country but overnight restrictions are continuing this week in the worst-affected areas, including parts of Cork, Limerick, Clare, Sligo and Leitrim.
Cork City Council said its repair crews are continuing to make “good progress” in reducing water losses and all areas of the city should now be receiving normal daytime supplies.
The council said if people are not receiving water in areas where the normal supply has been restored the “likelihood is that the problem may be internal to their own system”.
It said the number of areas with night time restrictions has been reduced by 75 per cent however, some areas will still be left without water tonight and tomorrow night.
Clare County Council said although demand is still exceeding supply the situation is improving and is expected to be back to near normal within two days.
Limerick County Council advised customers it will be shutting off supplies from 6pm this evening and restoring them at 9am tomorrow morning.
In a statement the council said both Dromcollogher and Broadford public water supplies will be shut off tonight. Other areas may also experience night time restrictions in service until water levels are restored to normal.
Local authorities which are still implementing cuts will have standpipes or tankers available for residents in the worst-affected areas to collect water. Details of tanker locations are posted on council websites. Residents are reminded to bring their own containers and to boil all water collected before drinking.
This morning, Joe Crockett, of the City and County Managers Association, said the recent cold weather had caused substantial damage to roads in many areas.
He said members of the organisation would be asking the Department of Transport for flexibility around funding for road works.
Mr Crockett told RTÉ Morning Ireland they would not be seeking an increase in their roads allocation, but rather wanted to spend funds on repairing patches instead of restoring lengthy sections of road.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said this was the only way to deal with the pothole issue and that it was the "best way forward".
Mr Gormley said he was happy with his record on investment in water infrastructure. He said a mains rehabilitation programme could be completed in 10 years if the current rate of investment continued.