Water shortages in Ireland will worsen this summer, Irish Water has warned. 

After the second hottest temperature ever recorded in Ireland, water supplies are under pressure in 15 areas of the country and officials expect that number to increase as the summer goes on: 

“It’s a moving situation,” Head of Operations at Irish Water Tom Cuddy explained to Newstalk. 

“The number at the moment is 15 and as we go through the summer we expect that there will be more places where this will become the case.” 

Surge in demand

Currently tankering and night-time restrictions have been imposed on Bennettsbridge and Clogh Castlecomer in Kilkenny; Coalbrook in Tipperary; Wexford Town and Bunclody in Wexford; Clonaklilty, Roberts Cove, Whitechurch and Coppeen in Cork; Inis Oírr in Galway; Swan in Laois, Carran in Clare and Cooga Spring and Doon in Limerick.

Demand for water surges during hot weather and Mr Cuddy urged the public to show restraint: 

“Outdoor use in particular is where we see the biggest change in behaviour when the weather gets dry or gets very hot,” he said. 

“So outdoor use for leisure, for watering gardens, for cleaning, we would like to be sparing and keep the hose in the shed.”

Man taking a shower washing hair.He continued: 

“The advice we have is across the board because water conservation is something that’s very important all year round. 

“Within those areas, it is important for people to be aware of the fact that there are shortages and they may not feel them themselves [but] people on the edges of the network, people in agricultural areas - they are experiencing a lot of difficulty. 

“People in towns might feel the supply is fully there, it’s normal, in fact we’re right on the edge in many of those cases.” 

The public can also do their bit by contacting Irish Water whenever they spot a leak.

Main image: A gardener waters plants in his garden ahead of the Irish Water hosepipe ban, 08-06-2020. Image: RollingNews