Water restrictions in Dublin city centre were lifted this afternoon for the New Year's Eve celebrations but householders still face a further 10 days of diminished supply.
Water supplies are expected to be restored in most locations outside Dublin over the next few days, Department of Environment officials said today.
The department said that while there were still pockets in some counties where limited or no piped supply was available, the situation was improving.
Dublin City Council lifted water restrictions from 2pm today until 4pm tomorrow to cater for the New Year's Eve celebrations. However, restrictions will resume after that until midday on Sunday and there will only be a six-hour respite before a further 18 hours of restrictions are imposed on Sunday evening.
Gerry Galvin, principal adviser in water services, said reservoirs in Dublin saw an improvement last night as supply exceeded demand. However, demand for water is exceeding supply capacity on several water supplies around the country, including across counties Clare, Galway and Mayo.
Mr Galvin said every effort was being made to resolve the situation in areas left without water, where residents were being supplied by tankers or standpipes.
He again called on people to conserve water use and warned that even following the restoration of supply, night-time restrictions may continue to apply in order to fully replenish reservoirs.
It is important that people heed the message to conserve water as this eases the pressure on the system generally,” Mr Galvin said. “Progress continues to be made in resolving the supply situation around the country with the expectation that supply will be restored in most locations outside Dublin over the next few days.”
He said the situation will continue to be monitored over the weekend to assess the impact of the relaxation of restrictions over New Year’s Eve and the effect of increased business demand from Tuesday onwards.
“Local authorities will continue to work over the bank holiday weekend in order to maintain progress in restoring supplies,” Mr Galvin said.
Yesterday, Joe Crockett from the City and County Managers Association said he expected water services to be back to normal in most parts of the country by this evening, with the exception of some parts of Galway and Mayo. Up to 1,000 homes in Galway city still have no water supply and supplies in parts of Mayo are said to be at a critical level.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said yesterday local authorities had done all they could to cope with the "unprecedented" thaw which had caused so many pipes to burst, with temperatures having varied by more than 20 degrees in the space of a couple of days.
"The huge variation in temperatures is the real reason for the problems with our water supplies," he said. "No matter how much money you invest, when you deal with this surprise weather it is very difficult."
Mr Gormley said money would "not be a problem" when dealing with burst water mains, and the department had allocated €320 million for the upgrade of the mains network.
Contingencies had been put in place before Christmas when Met Éireann first forecast a significant thaw, particularly in relation to demand management, to conserve supplies. "Our state of preparedness contrasts with what happened across the Border," he added.
Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney today called for an entirely new approach to water delivery. “What is now required is a significant commitment to upgrading the 25,000 km of water pipeline infrastructure in Ireland, and more importantly, a new management structure to plan and take responsibility for the efficient and cost-effective delivery of water to homes and businesses nationally,” he said.
There were some water shortages in Cork yesterday. A spokesman for Cork City Council said work by members of the public to repair and to minimise water leaks over the past few days have had a positive effect on the water supply in the city. He appealed to property owners to continue to check vacant premises. Standpipes will continue to be available over the coming weekend.
All Galway county water supplies are being switched off between 9pm and 9am daily. The water supply in Shannon, Co Clare will be cut off from midnight tonight to 10am tomorrow.
Kildare County Council has lifted water restrictions for New Year's Eve, but pressure reductions will return at 6pm tomorrow.
Water supplies in parts of Co Limerick were shut off last night as the local authority continued to carry out repairs. Supply was due to be restored to many areas this morning.
Water levels in Leitrim reservoirs remain at critically low levels.
For further information check your local council website.