Water supplies are being disrupted all over the State with some local authorities rationing because of dwindling reservoir supplies and burst pipes.
Outages have been reported across Dublin, Wexford, Clare, Cork, Sligo, Leitrim, north Tipperary and Galway.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said reservoir supplies had run “dangerously low” in some places and he urged people to conserve water.
Mr Gormley said Dublin City Council and other local authority representatives had told the National Emergency Response Committee that the “crucial issue” remained water supply.
“They’re continuing to fix burst pipes and mains but the water levels are extremely low,” he said.
Water levels in reservoirs serving large parts of north County Dublin have recovered with normal supplies returning to Fingal, Balbriggan, Malahide and Portmarnock and also parts of Hartsown, Huntstown and Lohunda, in the Blanchardstown area.
However, several Dublin suburbs including parts of Cabra, Finglas, Killester, Rathmines, Rathgar and Terenure are still without water following a decision by Dublin City Council to reduce water pressure.
There are also water outages on the North side of the city at St Attracta's Road, Waverley Avenue, Swords Road, Limewood Road and Sean MacDermott Street.
Tankers are located in Cabra at Ventry park, at the shopping centre in Clarehall, Coolock Village, Killester, Finglas Village and Belclare Park, Poppintree.
Dublin City manager John Tierney said water reserves were “seriously depleted” because of over-use by householders. The council said problems with water supply were “extensive and widespread”. Demand for water increased by 25 per cent at the weekend, and had exceeded 624 million litres yesterday.
A council spokesman said it was impossible to say how many householders had been affected but six water tankers were providing water around the city yesterday. He said 80 per cent of burst water mains were below the ground so it took some time before the problems were detected. He said it could take five or six months to fully repair the system.
The offices of the Department of Justice on St Stephen’s Green have been forced to close after extensive damage was caused to electrical wiring by burst pipes over the weekend. The building is expected to be shut for at least a week, with the majority of staff moved to the Department’s other offices at Pembroke House on neighbouring Harcourt Street.
South Dublin County Council said areas north of the Naas Road have now lost their water supply. This includes Lucan, Palmerstown and Clondalkin with the exception of Clondalkin Village. The supply will remain off until 4am. Therefore customers should have water back in their homes by 9:30am.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said it was implementing a series of water conservation measures after a 26 per cent rise in the demand for water since the bad weather began. The 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 Council said water supply had been interrupted in a number of areas, due to low pressure across the network. City manager Joe Gavin said the demands on the system had compromised supply to a number of vulnerable facilities, including the Mercy Hospital.
Due to a break in the public water main in the Raffeen Area a number of households in Cork will be without water until repairs are carried out. Areas involved include Upper Rochestown, Oldcourt, Rathanker and Ballyorban.
There are severe water shortages at present in Bantry on the High Level Scheme and in Allihies. Tankers are place at Coolea, Balllymakeera and Macroom Mart carpark.
Clare County Council shut off public water supplies at several locations yesterday. Sean Ward, senior water surfaces engineer of Clare County Council said they are monitoring the situation on a day to day basis but it “could be taking several days yet”.
Leitrim householders have been experiencing disruption to their supply since before Christmas.
Reservoirs in Galway are very low with cuts in supply reported in Loughrea, Rosmuc, Moycullen and Gort. Galway County Council has provided tankers for emergency supplies.
Kildare County Council said measures to conserve water would likely include pressure reductions at night and increased utilisation of well-field sources in the west of the county. The council said premises on high ground and at the end of pipelines "are most likely to be affected by the conservation measures, a side-effect which is regrettable but unavoidable".
A spokesman for Wexford County Council said thaw was resulting in numerous leaks in the water supply network, both on the private side and on the public side.
“We are finding an increasing number of water leaks at empty houses and mobile homes in the County,” he said, adding “there are over 11,000 ‘second homes’ in County Wexford…we are appealing to house owners either to visit their homes in Wexford, or to arrange for a local resident to check their empty houses or mobile homes for leaks, all as speedily as possible”.
Limerick County Council also urged households to conserve supplies and warned taps could run dry in the coming days. Areas affected include Caherconlish, Oola, Carrigmore, Doon, Newcastle West, Mountcollins, Abbeyfeale, Foynes and Ballyhahill.
Donal Brennan, senior engineer with the council, said: “Customers throughout the county can expect interruptions in supply over the coming days.
“Council crews are continuing their efforts to maintain supplies and the public are asked to promptly repair any leaks within their premises.
“We will continue to ensure that disruption to public water supplies is kept to a minimum and supplies are restored as soon as practicable.”
Additional reporting: PA