WATER SUPPLIES ACROSS Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow will be disrupted this Tuesday and Wednesday to allow for critical repairs.

Uisce Éireann has started work on a project to fix a major water main which supplies almost one third of the drinking water for the Greater Dublin area.

The main connects the Ballymore Eustace Water Treatment Plant and the Saggart Reservoir.

Uisce Éireann said that customers in Dublin and Wicklow may experience interruptions to their water supply including low pressure, discoloured water, or no water over the next two days.

Up to 5000 customers in Naas and surrounding areas will have no supply on Tuesday from 9am to 5pm.

“As the project progresses Uisce Éireann will work to minimise the impact to customers while carrying out the essential repair works,” a spokesperson said.

“Customers can help to avoid water outages for themselves and others by using less water.”

The Dublin area is heavily dependent on this large pipeline which carries 220 million litres of water each day, which is the equivalent of about 80 Olympic swimming pools.

It supplies about one third of the area’s drinking water. The pipe is over 25km long and is about the same height as an average adult.

“These planned works are necessary to repair a section of the pipeline that is likely to burst if not fixed urgently,” Uisce Éireann said.

“An unplanned burst on this pipeline would result in unplanned and widespread water outages that could take weeks to repair and affect up to 1.7 million people.”

Stephen Burke of Uisce Éireann, said the location and scale of the pipe makes it a particularly challenging repair. 

“Extensive planning and preparation has taken place in advance to enable us to carry out these works and minimise impact on water supplies.

“We are appealing to customers in the Greater Dublin Area to conserve water to help maintain everyone’s water supply during the critical repair works. 

“We will keep customers updated and informed of any potential supply disruptions while we carry out these essential repair works.”

The Uisce Éireann 24 hour customer care helpline is available on 1800 278 278. Updates can be found on the Water Supply Updates section of www.water.ie.