Water restrictions in Skerries and surrounding areas are to be temporarily lifted.
Irish Water confirmed the move in a statement on Monday, saying that restrictions in recent days have resulted in improved water levels at Thomastown Reservoir.
However, the statement said nighttime water restrictions were likely to be back in place from Tuesday to Thursday in a bid to avoid widespread outages for the area.
Customers in Skerries, Loughshinny and Skerries Road, Rush areas are asked to continue to conserve water due to increased demand and reducing water levels in the Thomastown Reservoir. For more see https://t.co/JhpVWk4fZu. #IrishWater pic.twitter.com/BR6U1n9ax8
— Irish Water (@IrishWater) June 10, 2018
The company urged households in the region to continue to conserve water, saying that if water conservation measures are implemented restrictions may be lifted for the weekend.
Irish Water has also announced planned nighttime outages in the Athlone area.
The company said the restrictions were necessary due to the increase in demand for water during the current dry spell, which has caused water levels to drop in the Annagh Reservoir.
The outages will be in place from 8pm on Monday until 8am on Tuesday and will affect households in Athlone town, Baylin, Mount Temple, The Ories, Garrycastle, Dublin Road, Ardnaglug, Fardrum, Moydrum, Blyry, Killyon Hill, and Bonavalley, among other areas.
Meanwhile, in Co Offaly, Irish Water is imposing nighttime restrictions on water supplies in a bid to replenish reservoir levels in Dunkerrin.
The water restrictions are being put on the Dunkerrin Water Supply Zone near the Tipperary border in order to allow water levels in Lisduff Reservoir to recover.
Up to 300 properties are impacted and they are being asked to conserve water.
High demand
Current water outages in the Skerries area are because of significantly higher demand due to a combination of hot weather in a seaside town and “a lot of horticulture in the area”, Irish Water has said.
Irish Water general manager Eamon Gallen said reservoirs were back to about 75 per cent on Sunday and that water is currently flowing, but unfortunately restrictions would remain until normal service is resumed, which he hoped would be later this week.
“We are looking at improvements for the areas worst affected – areas on the edge of the network who unfortunately lose pressure first and get it back last. We are looking to see if we can increase pressure in those areas,” he said.
“However, that doesn’t change the underlying problem where demand exceeds supply.
“We will continue to provide alternative water supplies and for anybody experiencing particular difficulties we’d ask them to please call us 24/7 on 1850-278278 and we’ll do what we can to assist.”
He said there would be some houses “at the extremities and they may not be getting water, we do apologise.
“One day without water is bad, two is worse and three, four and five is almost unimaginable. It’s very hard to do anything. We are looking at some engineering solutions to try and increase the pressure up to those areas. But in the short term, unfortunately, these customers are very badly affected.”
Widespread disruption
Mr Gallen said right across the Dublin area there were issues with supply.
“The ultimate solution is to bring water from the Shannon and in the meantime we’re working to maximise supply and reduce demand, so what we can do is we can fix leaks and we’re encouraging people to play their part by conserving water wherever possible; so not watering gardens, not using power hoses unnecessarily, turning off taps when brushing teeth,” he said.
"There's a lot more information . . . on www.water.ie and very small things make a big difference.
“We’ve just about recovered from Storm Emma, the condition of our pipes in Dublin is very poor, the average is about 60-years-old. A modern capital city needs spare capacity of about 20 per cent to deal with the peaks and demand and in Dublin at the moment we’re practically matching the maximum amount we can supply.
“We’ve five main water treatment plants and they’re working at maximum capacity, but by Friday for example, the spare capacity for the whole of the greater Dublin area was only enough to fill the bottom half of Liberty Hall.
“We work with local authorities, the situation is monitored on a daily basis and we try to avoid the need for restrictions where possible and minimise the impact on people where avoidable.”
Restrictions began on Thursday night .
The following locations supplied with water from the Thomastown Reservoir are likely to be impacted by any further restrictions:
Barnageeragh
Hamilton hill
Town Parks Newtown Parks
St Patrick’s Close
Kelly’s Bay
Skerries Rock
Parts of Downside
Greenhills
Millview
Hillside Gardens
Mourne View and Hoar Park
Alternative water supplies for the Skerries area will be provided at the following locations:
At Newtown Parks near Dublin Road Junction
At Newtown Parks near Selskar Court Junction
At Skerries Point Shopping Centre near Eurospar
At Kelly’s Bay Promenade
At Millers Lane
At Hillside Estate