Dublin's Water Shortages Ease



Copyright: RTE News


 For the first time since the thaw water demand in the Greater Dublin area has dropped below production. The supply on the 1st January, 2011 (Happy New Year!) was 545 MLd while demand was at 522 MLd.  However, water restrictions will remain in place for at least another week to allow stored water supplies to recover, so for most of Dublin's population this will mean that supplies will be cut off from 18.00 to 7.00 each night.  The situation around the rest of the country continues to improve as leaks are detected and repaired.

Irish Water Supply Problems Update

For an update of the current water supply problems facing water suppliers then you should search the relvant County Councils.  For Dublin these are:

• Dublin City Council 
• Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
• Fingal County Council
• South Dublin County Council

The current situation in Dublin is not that there is insufficient water in its reservoirs but rather that burst pipes have caused an increase in demand to 624 ML per day while current supply capacity via its treatment plants is 550 ML per day leaving a shortfall of >70 ML  resulting in restrictions.

Ireland Facing Water Supply Crisis

Irish water suppliers are faced with further restricting water supplies throughout the country as the thaw sets in due to excessively high demand caused by burst pipes. Over 60 ML was lost last night from fractured mains in Dublin alone. Most seriously affected towns and cities include South Dublin, Cork city, Kilkenny, Athlone and Limerick.  Counties Wicklow, Kildare, Westmeath, Sligo  and Clare are also seriously affected.  For example, over 20,000 people in Tralee, Co. Kerry, are having water supplied on a phased basis only during the day as the local reservoirs are empty, with all supplies turned off during the night. Similar restictions are in place nationwide. Suppliers are also warning of curtailments to supplies as burst pipes are repaired and are calling for householders and businesses to conserve water to prevent further restrictions and interruptions in supplies.

Leakage Remains a Challenge for Suppliers

Leakage is the starting point in the conservation of drinking water supplies. In the UK leakage reduction targets are monitored by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). However a number of companies have failed their targets for 2009/10 including Yorkshire Water who lost on average 295 million litres a day (ML/d) over this period. The target for 2009/10 was set at 3,275 ML/d for all companies in England and Wales and this was almost achieved with reported loss for the period of 3,280 ML/d. However, the overall trend is still downwards with 8.4 and 34.2% reductions since 2005/6 and 1995/6 respectively. Thames Water still are losing the most via leakage at 670 ML/d with Severn and Trent Water close behind at 495 ML/d, but both within their targets of 685 and 500 ML/d respectively. Where targets are not meet then Ofwat can force companies to invest even more money in achieving leakage reduction. For more information about company leakage and performance in general see Ofwat’s annual report: Service and delivery – performance of the water companies in England and Wales 2009-10: Water today, water tomorrow.