Hosepipe ban to come into force in West Cork
From midnight tonight, a Water Conservation Order, also known as a hosepipe ban, will be in place for 30 supplies in West Cork, Irish Water announced today.
The ban will be in place for a period of 4 weeks, but applies only to these locations. The move is a bid to safeguard water supplies for essential purposes.
The Conservation Order prohibits the use of garden hosepipes and other non-essential uses of water by domestic users and commercial premises for non-commercial activities, for example watering gardens attached to a business premises.
The areas affected are: Adrigole, Allihies, Bantry, Bayview, Caheragh, Cahermore, Cape Clear, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Cluain Court Allihies, Coppeen, Crookhaven, Crosterra, Drinagh, Dromore Bantry, Dunmanway, Durrus, Dursey Island, Glengarriff, Goten, Johnstown, Kealkill, Kilrcohane, Lyre Clonakilty, Reenmeen West, Skibbereen, Tarelton, Toormore, Whiddy Island.
The ban means people cannot water their gardens, wash cars or boats, fill pools or ponds or use ornamental ponds.
The implementation of this order follows a long period of dry weather combined with a large increase in demand, as a result of which water supplies in West Cork have come under severe stress.
Since November 2021 rainfall in West Cork has been below average for every month (except last June) when compared to historical rainfall records. This has impacted water resources as they need time to replenish, and it will take 6-8 weeks of rainfall to do that.
There was only 6.3mm of rain at the weather station in Roches Point between 14 and 23 August, compared with 18.4mm in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath and over 32mm in Markree Castle, Sligo. Met Éireann is forecasting a further spell of dry, warm weather for the next 2 weeks.
Demand for water has increased significantly over the summer period, particularly in tourist and agricultural areas. Irish Water, in partnership with Cork County Council, is currently tankering water to three supplies and there is a potential need for tankering to additional supplies in the West Cork area in the next 2 weeks.
Margaret Attridge of Irish Water, said: “Irish Water’s top priority is to protect our water supply for use in homes, businesses and essential services. Water levels at our surface water and ground water sources in the West Cork area have reduced to historic lows.
"As demand continues to outstrip supply in West Cork and with further dry weather predicted, we have taken the extra step of implementing a Water Conservation Order to safeguard local water supplies.
“Using a hosepipe for 1 hour is the equivalent of the daily water usage of an average family and this is generally a non-essential use of water.
“The introduction of this order follows a series of measures that Irish Water has put in place to safeguard supplies over the summer, including tankering water to reservoirs, nightime shut offs in some areas, pressure management and a public information campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of water conservation year-round.
"We will continue to analyse water consumption levels while the Water Conservation Order is in place. It is essential that our water supply is protected if we are to avoid restrictions and outages over the coming weeks and months," she concluded.