Covid washing leads to water shortage

Irish Water has urged the Galway public to choose handwashing over power washing as domestic water usage increases by an average of 20% in homes across the country.

The plea comes with night time water restrictions already in place on Inis Oirr and Inis Mór – and public water supplies in Ahascragh, Gort, Dunmore and Ballinasloe are at risk of reaching drought levels.

This week Irish Water and Galway County Council announced that essential overnight water restrictions on Inis Mór would be extended from 5pm daily until 10am the following morning – due to a drop in raw water storage on the island. The restrictions on Inis Oirr will remain in place nightly from 9.30pm until 8am.

And with people adhering to government advice and staying at home since mid-March in response to the Covid-19 crisis, new domestic metering data has revealed that households are using an additional 24 litres of water per person per day.

In contrast, non-domestic water usage has decreased – with many businesses, construction sites, schools, colleges, gyms, hotels, bars and restaurants temporarily closed.

And this reduction in demand has helped to off-set some of the domestic demand – but as domestic demand represents two thirds of Irish Water’s business, the water supply is still under pressure.

The state utility also fears that – when Government restrictions are lifted – many commercial premises will need to use extra water to clean and flush their plumbing systems and storage tanks or to complete deep cleans, while water usage in homes will continue to remain higher than normal.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now; the Tribune is also available for delivery with your supermarket shop, through our free delivery scheme with An Post – or you can buy our digital edition on line.