Irish Water repairs save 34 million litres a day, says specialist

A conservation specialist with Irish Water says that repairs made by the company are saving 34 million litres of water a day.

The future of the utility has become a major policy issue in recent discussions on forming a government, as members of Fianna Fáil want charges deferred and Irish Water to be replaced by an agency.

Kate Gannon told the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk that their leak detection teams, new technology and meters have changed the way repairs are done and are saving much more water.

Metering has made it much easier to detect leaks and pinpoint where problems are, she said.

In many cases the leaks are caused by running toilets or taps and can be easily rectified. “It might be just a washer than needs to be fixed.”

Seven per cent of houses were using six times the national average of water, she said.

The worst case of leakage had occurred in Galway where one home was using water equivalent to 325 houses.

The repairs completed to date were saving 34 million litres a day which was enough to supply the entire county of Wicklow for a day.

The aim, she said, was to save enough to supply Wicklow for a year.