Cavan public urged to conserve water

 

“Demand for water right across Co Cavan continues to increase”, say Irish Water, who is urging the public to conserve water while the prolonged dry spell predicted by Met Éireann remains.

Despite there being currently no water restrictions in place, Irish Water and Cavan County Council are monitoring all supplies across the county on a daily basis.

Irish Water’s Drought Management Team is understood to be meeting daily and is monitoring water supplies and demand around the country.

Irish Water say their priority is to “minimise” the impact on homes and businesses, particularly during this period of holidays and high tourism. The State utility remains very concerned about the possibility of having to impose restrictions in the long term. “This will become unavoidable if the dry conditions persist into the Autumn with lower than normal rainfalls.”

A statement from Irish Water added: “Demand for water is increasing while levels in rivers and lakes are dropping significantly which means that is there is less water available to treat and supply to homes and businesses.

“Nationally, Irish Water have today identified 100 water supply schemes around the country that are now at risk. Customers in Kilkenny, Longford, Athlone, North Galway, Louth and Kerry have already experienced restricted water supply and outages in some cases. Currently almost 4,000 customers are impacted.”

Meanwhile, some areas in Cork, Wicklow, Limerick, Kilkenny, Carlow, Tipperary, Clare, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Laois, Limerick, Kerry, Waterford and Offaly have been identified as being at risk.

“We are very grateful to the public and to businesses for all efforts to conserve water. Every small measure has a positive impact. We were very encouraged for example to see Dublin Bus commit to only washing their fleet every three days instead of every day. Several other businesses who are large water users have confirmed to us that are implementing water conservation measures and we are very thankful to them for their contribution,” said Irish Water’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Kate Gannon.

“We have a long way to go. If the drought is prolonged, water restrictions would become unavoidable if demand does not continue to drop. Irish Water are appealing to the public to continue to be mindful of their water usage. Every effort someone makes in their home or business impacts their neighbour and community. Irish Water have lots of tips for conserving water in the home, garden and business on water.ie.”