Updated at 4.30pm

IRISH WATER HAS said all customers in the Louth, east and south of Meath now have water after the “complex” repair of a burst water main.

A substantial portion of the north-east of the country has been living with a dramatically-reduced water supply, or none at all, since last Friday after a 50-year-old main burst in Donore, Co Meath, not far from Drogheda.

Irish Water said that as water returns to residents and local businesses, their next course of action will be to replace the pipes that have been damaged because of the burst main.

It said that although the exact timeline needed to be worked out, “a preliminary view suggests a timeframe of 18 months and a budget of €2-3 million will be needed to complete the work”.

Water. We are aware of the challenges we face with an aging network and the reality that significant failures will occur from time to time for the foreseeable future.

“Irish Water sincerely regrets the considerable inconvenience caused by this prolonged outage.”

Drinkable water

The company said there will continue to be isolated areas on high ground in the Drogheda area that will experience disruption or low pressure for some hours.

Restoration of the supply will also take longer for Ashbourne, Ratoath and areas on high ground and on the periphery of the network.

The Staleen water treatment plant is now back in production and Irish Water said reservoir levels are continuing to fill.

However, Irish Water has urged customers to conserve their mains water supply for the next few days “until supply has returned to normal”.

“It may take several days for full service to be restored to all customers, particularly those on high ground and at the periphery of the network,” the company said this morning in a statement.

Rostered rationing of mains supplies, which has been in place for most of this week, will continue today, but is expected to ease as the day progresses, with bottled water still being distributed to vulnerable customers.

Customers have also been advised that, while the water from their taps may be discoloured as a result of the installation of the new pipe, it is still drinkable.

Over 70,000 people in the area were left without water for nearly a week following the collapse of the Donore main last Friday.

- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy and Gráinne Ní Aodha.

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