Madam, – Could someone in authority please explain why, after such horrible weather conditions in October, November and December, that we are now told it could take four months for the country’s reservoirs to recover?
Parts of the west are still under water, and yet we have shortages! I know that most local councils have problems with leakages, but this is a joke.
To cap it all, we are told water charges are on the way.
If the same local authorities are complaining of having no money now, what will they be like when they have to pay for all the water they use/waste? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – This morning’s news coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti was followed by an extended piece featuring various Irish people complaining about their water being cut off for a few hours each day.
Need I say more about our sense of perspective? – Yours, etc,
Madam, Mary Hilary (Letters, January 14th) repeats the advice to stop using dishwashers during the water supply crisis, advice promoted by local authorities and referenced by your reporters in many articles.
This advice is probably irrelevant at best and, at worst, could result in increased water use. The best modern dishwashers use 10-15 litres (2-3 gallons) per cycle, the worst about 30 litres (6 gallons). This needs to be compared with washing dishes in a sink – unless it is assumed that crockery, cutlery, glasses and pots should go unwashed for the duration, a conservation practice adopted by many teenagers in advance of any crisis.
The average household using a sink almost certainly consumes as much or more water as a dishwasher, what with filling the sink at least once (more likely twice) for each meal, and rinsing dishes and sink before, during and after the chore.
This conclusion has prompted some water authorities in water-stressed US states, eg Las Vegas, to promote dishwashers as a way of conserving water.
What should be advised is to use a dishwasher wisely, ie not pre-rinsing dishes and pots but wiping them with kitchen paper and then, only if absolutely necessary, using a light cycle, and running the machine with a full load. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – While attempting to wash myself in a few litres of rationed water this morning, I was struck by the audacity of our political leaders.
We are told the current water shortages were caused by wasteful householders running their water to prevent their pipes from freezing. We now know the cause is the ongoing neglect of our water pipe network which could not withstand winter temperatures common across the rest of Europe.
We are told that the cause of our financial crisis was a profligate populace that had “lost the run of itself”, when in fact the primary cause was the wilful under-regulation of our banking sector.
This is how, at the first sniff of a crisis, our errant political masters show their loyalty to the people who give them their mandate. – Yours, etc,