HOUSEHOLDERS and businesses in greater Dublin are being urged to cut their daily consumption of water by 10 per cent to conserve supplies while the local authorities work to eliminate leaks in the distribution network.
Despite yesterday's heavy rain, Dublin Corporation says all four treatment plants are now operating at full capacity and it is proving "extremely difficult to meet the current demand for 100 million gallons of water per day.
Parts of the city centre, the north city, Cabra, Terenure and Dun Laoghaire are already experiencing low pressure and, in some cases, have no supply at all at weekends. This situation is expected to spread unless there are widespread cuts in consumption.
Mr Jim Fenwick, the corporation's chief engineer, has suffered himself. Early on Sunday morning, he was unable to make a cup of tea at his home in Glenageary after watching Michelle Smith win her Olympic gold medal - because the water had been cut off.
"We're on a knife edge at the moment," he said. "The main reservoirs are OK, but we are still having problems with leakage and wastage and it will take two years before we will begin to see results, from a £32 million programme to plug the leaks."
Last April, a study commissioned by the Minister for the Environment found that about 45 per cent of Dublin's water supply was being "literally poured downs the drain" - in the words of Mr Howlin - mainly because of leaks in the distribution network.
Mr Fenwick said leaks accounted for at least 30 per cent of this loss, while wastage by consumers made up the balance. Given that it cost up to £2 per 1,000 gallons to deliver water to taps, the value of the losses could amount to £90,000 per day.
"We're producing an action plan to fund new water treatment plants. But before we do that, we have to repair the leaks and renovate the older pipes", he explained. "The EU certainly won't fund new works if they know we're leaking away in excess of 30 per cent."
The study of Dublin's water supply by Generale des Eaux and M.C. O'Sullivan, consultant engineers, recommended that urgent steps should be taken to reduce the "unacceptably high level's of leakage", which were much higher than in most other European cities.
It also suggested that meters might be installed in people's homes, so that they could be charged for the water they used.
He noted that consumption of drinking water in Dublin, at an average of 65 gallons (295 litres) per day, was nearly double the European average.
