Water rationing will have to be extended to all the major towns in south Tipperary in the absence of significant rainfall over the next 10 days, South Tipperary County Council warned yesterday.
Supplies have fallen so low that the council has been forced to implement cuts between the hours of 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. in Fethard town and surrounding areas. A total of 20 townlands throughout the area are currently affected, including the villages of Drangan and Mullinahone and the environs of Clonmel.
Mr Aidan Fennessy, the council's senior executive officer in roads and water services, said that in the absence of heavy rain cuts would have to be implemented in Clonmel, Carrick-On-Suir, Tipperary and Cashel areas in the coming 10 days.
Mr Fennessy said the problem was caused by low rainfall levels since the end of last summer. "We need about eight million gallons a day to keep the system going, but we are down 25 per cent."
He said fire brigades are being used to transport water from rivers to supplement falling supplies in reservoirs. "It's a balancing act at the moment. If we do not get significant rain, the rationing will become normal for the foreseeable future."
The council has urged people to desist from using public supplies for washing cars and watering gardens. Mr Fennessy said many areas were reaching the stage where they would not have supplies for significant parts of the day.
"We need a good week's rain to bring reserves back to normal," he added.
The council has €20 million allocated in its current budget for upgrading schemes, but this would not address the immediate shortage. In some cases half of total supplies were being lost through old and leaking pipes.