Irish Water is warning that supplies could be restricted until the autumn.

The hosepipe ban will be extended this week to Laois, Kilkenny, Limerick, Kerry, Galway and Waterford.

The ban came into force in the greater Dublin area on Monday as reservoir levels continue to fall amid the ongoing heatwave.

Irish Water managing director Jerry Grant said he does not expect things to improve any time soon.

“My expectation now is that this is likely to go on right into September,” he said.

“Because the kind of drought that we are seeing at the moment shows a serious deficit in ground water levels,” he said.

“Unless we get torrential rainfalls in August – which we sometimes do – we will see a very slow recovery, especially in groundwater sources where recharge takes a lot of time.”

These photos show the water reservoir level in Bohernabreena reservoir in March and how the water reserves have depleted significantly by July 1st. A reduction of 1.8 meters. To learn easy ways to #Conservewater visit https://t.co/5ToiqQcQYq #IrishWater pic.twitter.com/NRMNwku3kK

— Irish Water (@IrishWater) July 3, 2018

He said the country is facing a drought the likes of which we can expect to see “every ten of 20 years” and insisted that Irish Water has been replacing pipes and investing in water infrastructure “at a rate that has never been done before.”

He admitted the investment will not give Ireland a world crash water infrastructure – but said it will give us a substantial improvement from where we are.”

Meanwhile, Irish Water is also due to decide tomorrow if it will take a tough stance on enforcing the water conservation orders that are already in place.

Anyone who breaks the hosepipe ban faces a potential prosecution or a €125 fine.

The Water Conservation Order bans the use of water drawn through a hosepipe or similar apparatus for a range of purposes.

These include: 

• Watering a garden
• Cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a domestic hosepipe
• Cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe
• Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool - except when using a watering can 
• Filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe - excluding fish ponds
• Filling or maintaining a domestic ornamental fountain 
• Use of water for filling or replenishing an artificial pond, lake or similar application - - excluding fish ponds.