IRISH WATER HAS confirmed that 30 water supplies in West Cork will be subject to a hosepipe ban for four weeks from midnight tonight in order to conserve water.

The ban – also called a Water Conservation Order – will only apply to West Cork and not the rest of the country.

Under the ban, people are not allowed to use their water supply for garden hoses or other non-essential uses.

Irish Water said that the order has been issued in order to safeguard water supplies for essential purposes.

The utility said its implementation follows a long period of dry weather combined with a large surge in demand, which has put supplies under severe stress. 

Irish Water said that since November of last year, rainfall in West Cork has been below average for every month except for June and that water supplies need time to replenish, which will take six to eight weeks of rainfall.

As well as this, demand has increased over the summer months, and there is further dry weather forecast, which will increase pressure on supplies.

“Irish Water’s top priority is to protect our water supply for use in homes, businesses and essential services,” said Margaret Attridge of Irish Water in a statement. 

“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.”

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme, Attridge said there had been “unprecedented low levels of rainfall through November into January”, the time of year where resources would fill up to keep the country going throughout the summer.

She said that rainfall had been 76% below average in July. 

“In West Cork in particular, we’ve only had seven millimetres of rainfall. Now when you compare that to the rest of Ireland, over the last two weeks in Sligo, we’ve had 37 millimetres. We’ve only seven in West Cork, and hence West Cork is struggling,” she said.

Attridge said that one hour of using a hose in a garden uses 1,000 litres of water, which is equivalent to a family of four’s usage for a day.

It’s really important that we save water now. Met Éireann’s outlook for the next few weeks is for continued dried weather and it’s really important that we really maintain the water that’s left in our resources for essential services over the coming weeks and that’s why the ask has gone out to people to conserve water.

Attridge said the conservation order follows a series of measures and awareness campaigns that Irish Water has put in place to try to safeguard supplies over the summer.

The order prohibits the use of water drawn through a hosepipe for watering a garden, cleaning a private motor vehicle, cleaning a private boat, filling a swimming of paddling pool, pond or fountain. 

The ban will apply in West Cork from midnight tonight until Tuesday, 26 September. 

On whether the ban could be extended, Attridge said Irish Water is “monitoring the situation”, but that it isn’t currently being planned for. 

“The ban is in place now for four weeks. If the weather changes significantly, you would expect as we move towards the end of September, rain will come into West Cork,” she said.

She said there are 40 schemes across the country where Irish Water are managing supply. 

“These schemes would be what we’d be calling drought conditions, but we have taken some interventions such as pressure management, topping up reservoirs, so people have supply continuously.

“However, if the situation deteriorates, the water conservation could be extended but at the moment it’s not something we’re planning.”

Additional reporting by Jane Moore