East coast water supply ‘on knife edge’ between supply and demand

The Dublin region is “on a knife edge” using 600 million litres of water a day – exactly on the limit of water production per day, according to Irish Water.

The utility also said it was “carefully monitoring” the situation in Dublin and other parts of the State including Co Louth and Mullingar and Athlone in Co Westmeath.

A prolonged dry spell could lead to water shortages with reductions in pressure similar to those that have happened in recent days in Skerries in north Co Dublin, the utility warned.

Irish Water general manager Eamon Gallen said the current dry spell was due to be broken on Wednesday when rain is forecast – at least for a day.

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He said the benefit of a day’s rain was twofold. While it obviously helped fill reservoirs, the more significant benefit was that it reduced demand with generally lower temperatures and fewer people travelling to the seaside, where villages tend be hit with exceptional demand by day-trippers in sunny weather.

Longer days and soaring temperatures may be very welcome generally, but Mr Gallen said they are worrying times for Irish Water as the utility attempts to balance the supply and demand side of their activities.

Last year the State utility had to source extra supplies on the network for Mullingar, while bottled water had to be shipped out to the Aran Islands.

New source

Mr Gallen appealed for consumers to conserve water but said the problem of supply and demand in the Leinster region would not be settled until the proposed new source of water for the Dublin was commissioned.

He said building a pipeline to bring water from the Shannon to the Dublin region would take three years – but the planning and tendering stages could take longer than that. The utility has earmarked 2025 as a deadline to have the new supply in place.

Irish Water had in the past tended to reduce water pressure overnight, which was 'fine for householders' but this was the time when restaurant kitchens and hotel bathrooms were at their busiest

Irish Water’s position on the need for a new supply was supported by Dublin Chamber, which pointed out that water shortages are not confined to dry, hot spells but can be affected by storms and contamination. Head of public affairs with the business group Graeme McQueen said the incidents in which water pressure was lowered or supply cut altogether had happened “three to five times in the last year”.

Mr McQueen said this was a great concern to the Chamber. “We have had cuts in pressure due to storms, hot weather and contamination and it is because there has traditionally been little investment in the water infrastructure”.

He said the Chamber had received calls from its members to lobby the Government on the water supply for Dublin. In the past, large users of water, particularly the hospitality trade, had been very adversely affected by water restrictions, and such restrictions had the potential to restrict economic output, he said.

Irish Water had in the past tended to reduce water pressure overnight, which was “fine for householders” but this was the time when restaurant kitchens and hotel bathrooms were at their busiest, he added.

Irish Hotels Federation chief executive Tim Fenn said Dublin hotels tended to have substantial tanks of water which would get them through emergency situations. But he said sustained periods of low pressure needed to be carefully and professionally managed, as for some businesses low pressure meant no pressure.

He said there was a “structural problem” in the supply of water which needed to be fixed.