Hosepipe ban extended nationwide

The hosepipe ban has been extended nationalwide and comes into effect at 8am on Friday until midnight on Tuesday, 31 July.

Irish Water has issued a National Water Conservation Order for all domestic public watersupplies and to commercial premises for non-commercial activities, such as watering a garden attached to a business.

The scope of this Order is the same as the one applied to the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) on Monday. Irish Water may review the scope of both over the coming weeks.

The order has been issued due to the continued drought conditions and to help protect water supplies now and over the coming months. Met Éireann has advised that there has been little or no rain over the last 30 days and predictions show no significant rainfall is likely for at least a further week, meaning deepening drought conditions.

High levels of sunlight means significant evaporation levels on water sources. The average soil moisture deficit is currently 60mm nationally which means even if it did rain, no water would reach  water sources as it would be absorbed by the ground. The continuation of these drought conditions nationally is putting pressure on water sources as rivers, lakes and groundwater levels drop.