THE PROLONGED cold spell is having a major impact on water supplies across the State, with disruption to supply reported in several counties because of dwindling reservoir supplies and burst pipes.
Outages have been reported across Dublin, Wexford, Clare, Cork, Sligo, Leitrim, north Tipperary and Galway.
Several Dublin suburbs including parts of Cabra, Finglas, Killester, Rathmines, Rathgar and Terenure were without water last night and are likely to experience further cuts today following a decision by Dublin City Council to reduce water pressure. City manager John Tierney said water reserves were “seriously depleted” because of over-use by householders.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said numerous burst pipes would result in it implementing a series of water conservation measures from last night. It warned that the high number of damaged mains may take some time to repair.
Cork city manager Joe Gavin said the demands on the system had compromised supply to a number of vulnerable facilities, including the Mercy Hospital.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said reservoir supplies had run “dangerously low” in some places and he urged people to conserve water.
While Arctic conditions may be in their final days in most regions, people in Munster and south Leinster should now brace themselves for the possibility of flooding, according to Met Éireann. It is forecasting heavy rain for these areas today and this, combined with the thaw, could result in flooding.
Forecaster Gerald Fleming said frozen soil was also preventing the water from going into the ground so streams and rivers were rising more quickly.
“These are all considerations that lead us to be wary of a flooding scenario, a localised flooding, I think. I don’t think it will be the sort of widespread flooding which we had in November,” he said.
Many schools across the State will reopen today after Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe yesterday reversed an earlier decision to keep schools closed for the first three days of this week. He said he was basing his latest decision on weather advice given to yesterday’s meeting of the State’s Emergency Co-ordination Committee and “the unexpected rise in temperatures”.
Mr O’Keeffe’s decision on the reopening of schools was welcomed by primary school managers but slated by Fine Gael as a “humiliating climbdown”.
The majority of schools in Dublin are expected to reopen today but many schools in counties affected by snow are leaving it until tomorrow to resume.