WATER RESTRICTIONS in the Dublin area are expected to continue for at least 12 days, until the supply of treated drinking water at Stillorgan reservoir reaches a required minimum of 1,000 megalitres – or 1,000 million litres.
Water shortages around the country have eased somewhat, though there are still problems in both Cork and Galway city and county and in Co Clare. Galway County Council has warned that there are night-time restrictions on all its water schemes.
However, Michael Sands, spokesman for Dublin City Council’s sanitary services department, said the amount of water stored at Stillorgan, a key strategic reservoir, was 562.3 megalitres yesterday – only marginally more than a single day’s production of treated water.
“Ideally, Stillorgan should hold two days’ production, with over 1,000 megalitres in it, so we still need to get up to that two-day storage figure. That will require 12 or more days of rationing – that’s the timeframe required to get back to position.”
Mr Sands noted 545.4 megalitres of treated water had been produced on Saturday night – more than enough to meet demand of 521.7 megalitres. “That allowed us to put 27.3 megalitres in storage, bringing it up to 562.3 megalitres.”
“We took a risk so that businesses could continue to operate, particularly pubs and restaurants, but demand matched supply in the end due to the efforts people were making to deal with burst pipes and not using as much water.”
Mr Sands paid tribute to everyone for their help in checking and reporting burst pipes, and conserving water generally.
In Dublin water in many areas “will be shut off from 6pm on Monday night to 7am on Tuesday morning”. Similarly, supply will be suspended tomorrow from 7pm to 7am on Wednesday morning.
Mr Sands emphasised the distinction between “raw water” and treated water. “The reservoirs [of raw water] are full. There is plenty of water [in the main reservoir at Poulaphuca], but it’s the produced water that’s the problem.”
Details of the restrictions for the next few days, until January 5th, are given on Dublin City Council’s website (dublincity.ie).
The water supply systems where supplies will be cut, include Ballyboden, Slievebloom, Ballyfermot, Navan Road, Mespil Road, Anglesea Road, Rialto Bridge, Home Farm Road, Brunswick Street and Sillogue Tower, Ballymun
