Uisce Éireann is preparing for the biggest repair job in its history this weekend when 300 workers will toil against the clock to fix a key pipeline to Dublin in just 27 hours.
The company is making the most of the bank holiday exodus from the capital to tackle the work on the water main running between Ballymore Eustace and Saggart which delivers 220 million litres of drinking water to the city daily.
“The August bank holiday is one of the quietest times in Dublin in terms of water usage,” spokesman Colm Ward said.
“The All-Ireland is over, people are away on holidays and a lot of people leave the city for a few days.
READ MORE
“We used the same period for major repairs last year and the year before and it worked well.”
Unlike the current situation, however, a nationwide drought and hosepipe ban were not in place in those years.
But Ward said the current restrictions had not prevented the filling of reservoirs around Dublin to ensure supplies are uninterrupted when the pipeline is shut down this weekend.
“The water conservation order came into effect in Dublin earlier than the rest of the country and it did make a difference.
“Water demand is back down to about 640-650 million litres daily from over 690 million when we issued the order and we have got the reservoirs as full as possible.”
[ Uisce Éireann hit with €31m penalty over leaks and bad debtsOpens in new window ]
Apart from some possible localised loss of pressure in areas close to the pipeline, it is expected households and businesses will not experience any difference in their supply while the works are under way.
The water main is 25km long and sections have been in use since the 1940s. Wear and tear and ground movement have caused damage and leaks.
Some sections will be replaced and others repaired, with the works expected to prevent 1.5 million litres of water leaks daily.
