Dubliners are being urged to conserve water with treatment plants around the capital operating at their limit in recent days.
The latest lockdown has seen a surge in demand while the cold weather has caused more leaks and bursts than normal across the capital.
Irish Water is urging people to conserve as much water as possible while also following public health guidelines.
On Breakfast Briefing with Shane Beatty this morning Irish Water Head of Operations Tom Cuddy said people should check for leaks and only use what they need.
“There has been a significant increase in water demand over the past few days, really since the Christmas period,” he said.
“The very low temperatures we experienced all through last week, particularly at the weekend, also resulted in quite a number of leaks developing and bursts right across the Dublin area.
“At this stage, all of our water treatment plants are operating at full capacity. Essentially, we are operating at our limit.
“With the local authorities, we are repairing bursts across the public network as quickly as possible, although we have to operate within COVID-19 protocols so that is quite onerous.
“We are asking homes and businesses to conserve water, to be mindful of their use and also to check for leaks on their own properties – particularly outside taps and in unoccupied properties as well.”
Leaks and bursts
He said the leaks across the network are “spread all over the place” and are both medium and small sized.
He said treatment plants can only operate at full capacity for a limited time, noting that, “really we have to bring our network demand down as quickly as possible.”
Irish Water said simple steps like taking a shower rather than a bath and fixing dripping taps can have a big impact on water supply.
It is also reminding anyone with responsibility for properties that are currently unoccupied to check for leaks and turn off water where it is not required.
You can find a list of ways to conserve water at water.ie.
You can listen back to Mr Cuddy's chat with Shane Beatty here:
