IRISH WATER HAS warned that the country needs substantial rainfall this winter in order to replenish water supplies for the Greater Dublin Area.

Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 the managing director of Irish Water Jerry Grant said: “We need substantial winter rains to refill all sources and be back in good condition next year.”

This warning comes after it emerged yesterday that the water supply in Dublin could fail after 70 days.

In Dublin in early May, there was 150 days storage in the main reservoir of Poulaphuca, in less than three months Irish Water has said it is left with 70 days of water storage in the reservoir.

Thanking recent rainfall, Grant said that the water rates at Poulaphuca Reservoir have fallen at a slightly lower rate in the last week.

“Which means if we continue to get some half decent rainfall over the next couple of months we should get through.

It has been raining, but not enough.

“So what we’re asking the public to do is to conserve water and to continue to conserve it for the next number of months while we focus on reducing leakages as much as we can,” Grant said.

Burst pipes

Grant acknowledged that a substantial amount of water is being lost through leaks as there is a high burst frequency and “the pipes laid in the 1980s and 1990s are every bit as bad as the pipes from the 1930s”.

Irish Water says it is constantly carrying out leakage control efforts on the Dublin network which is about 9,000km.

“It is a very complex business in Dublin, it takes a lot of effort and time.

“Behind that, we have to replace the worst pipes and we’re doing that, we have 70km earmarked that we are working through.

But that’s the tip of the iceberg.

“The reality for the next seven or eight years, until we can augment the supply to Dublin, is that we have to survive on reducing leakage and maintaining quite a strict discipline on water conservation and hoping that we can avoid extreme weather conditions,” Grant said.

He added that the hosepipe ban would remain in place for the east and south of the country until October.

More information on how homes and businesses can conserve water can be read here.