Irish Water crisis management team reviewing network on hourly basis
By Maurice Garvey
THE CRISIS Management Team at Irish Water is reviewing the network on an hourly basis, after hundreds of thousands of people in South Dublin went without water overnight.
A number of areas without running water from 7pm Monday to at least 9am this morning, included Crumlin, Kimmage, and parts of Lucan, Terenure, Templeogue, Rathfarnham, Harold’s Cross and Rathmines.
The system is under huge pressure following Storm Emma, leading to conservation measures being implemented to allow reservoirs to refill.
Reservoirs are significantly depleted – meaning it could take weeks or even months before the network is fully restored.
A major criticism this morning by irate residents, was the lack of warning from Irish Water.
Many residents were under the impression it was to be a reduced flow from 7pm Monday night to 7am Tuesday morning, and were frustrated to discover they had no water for showers and heating.
Irish Water say the network in affected areas has been increasing since 7am, and it may take time for everyone to see an increase as water travels through the network.
The Echo understands water returned in some capacity to most of the affected areas from 9am onwards on Tuesday morning.
A spokesperson for Irish Water told The Echo, that the likelihood is it could take much longer for the network to be fully restored.
“The main problem is the huge quantity of small leaks from frozen pipes. If it was massive leaks, it would be easier to find and fix, but we have crews out there looking for them,” said a spokesperson.
“I imagine it will be an ongoing process. The crisis management team are reviewing the situation on an hourly basis.”
Residents are urged to continue to conserve water.
Irish Water also appeal for people not to leave their taps running.
In a statement, Irish Water said they recognises many customers continue to face severe impacts from water interruption or restrictions, and these “are likely to continue for a number of days.”
They said they are working with local authorities to minimise impact by confining restrictions to night time hours “where possible.”
“In the greater Dublin area, Irish Water saw an increase of over 10 per cent in demand from Friday to Sunday. Despite having our plants working at peak output, storage of water in the reservoirs was significantly depleted.
“Irish Water had to act to protect homes and businesses in Dublin and avoid widespread outages in the capital. The decision to reduce pressure across the Dublin network for a 12-hour period was one that was not taken lightly but we needed to ensure the city continued to function.”
IW said hospitals on the network will be prioritised and have water diverted to them.
