OVER HALF OF Irish households admit to wasting water, even though nearly 80% of them know that conserving it is important, according to new research.

The research, commissioned by Irish Water, found that less than one in five respondents actively conserve water in their homes, but two in five said they were interested in future water services initiatives.

Irish Water has developed a new online tool to assist households in assessing their water usage habits and finding out how they can save water.

John O’Donoghue, Irish Water’s Regional Operations Manager, said: “As we move into the summer months it’s important that we all consider our water usage and look at simple yet impactful ways to conserve water in the home. It can sometimes be difficult to know where to start, but even small changes can make a significant difference.

“Taking shorter showers, only running a washing machine and dishwasher with full loads, and even turning off the tap when brushing your teeth, are just some of the simple steps we can all take today to conserve water and safeguard our precious water resources.

The average water use of one person is 133 litres per day, and results from the calculator are based on the water use of typical households of similar sizes.

“We understand that historic network leakage continues to be a challenge and we are working hard with all relevant stakeholders and are on track to achieve a national leakage rate below 20% in Dublin and 25% nationally by 2030 – that’s down from 46% leakage in 2018,” O’Donoghue said. “Over 2,000 leaks are fixed every month by our team and local authority partners, and 166 million litres of water was saved daily during 2021 alone. Working together, we can all take steps to ensure our water is safeguarded for future generations.”

Each day in Ireland, 1.7 billion litres of water travels through a network that includes 63,000km of pipes to supply treated drinking water to homes, businesses, hospitals, schools and farms nationwide. The treatment process is a lengthy and complex one with up to seven stages that can take up to three days to make raw water suitable to drink.