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LAST UPDATE | 28 Jun 2018
IRISH WATER WILL tonight begin lowering water pressure levels in the Greater Dublin Area as demand for water has increased again in the past 24 hours as a result of the high temperatures.
Irish Water, working with local authorities, is lowering nighttime water pressure levels in the Greater Dublin Area to the minimum level. The utility said it will not impact businesses but will assist in managing demand more effectively.
Eamon Gallen, General Manager of Irish Water told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning that it is “operating on a knife edge”.
In the Greater Dublin Area, Irish Water said it can sustainably and safely produce 610 million litres of water supplies and demand around the country.
However, in the past 24 hours, demand reached 615 megalitres. Irish Water said this level of demand meant drawing from treated water storage to maintain full supply. This option can only be maintained for a limited period of a few weeks, it said.
In a statement today, it said: “Irish Water’s priority is to minimise the impact on homes and businesses, particularly during this period of holidays and high tourism.”
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Gallen said Dublin’s water supply is “not resilient to stand up” to hot weather.
[image alt="88 Weather Pics_90546596" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2018/06/88-weather-pics_90546596.jpg" width="600" height="440" credit-source="RollingNews.ie" caption="Michelle%20McNally%20from%20Trim%20jumps%20into%20the%20sea%20at%20the%20Forty%20Foot%20in%20Dublin%20during%20the%20sunny%20hot%20weather." class="alignnone" /end]
Demand on water supply is increasing and there is less water available for treatment, said Gallen, who urged people to conserve water where possible.
People should take shorter showers, avoid watering their lawn, and they should not wash their cars during the dry spell.
Other water restrictions
Irish Water said it is “very concerned” about the possibility of having to impose restrictions in the long term.
“This will become unavoidable if the dry conditions persist into the autumn with lower than normal rainfalls,” it said.
Currently, there are other water restrictions in place in a number of areas around the country.
Customers in Kilkenny, Longford, Athlone, north Galway, Louth, and Kerry have already experienced restricted water supply and outages in some cases. Currently, almost 4,000 customers are impacted.
Some areas in Cork, Wicklow, Limerick, Kilkenny, Carlow, Tipperary, Clare, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Laois, Limerick, Kerry, Waterford and Offaly have been identified as being at risk.
Speaking in the Dáil this week, Fine Gael’s Alan Farrell said the public have to be responsible and cut-back on their water usage at times when there are shortages, adding that he was surprised when he got a text message from a constituent to tell him there was a queue for the car wash at a service station in north County Dublin affected by the water shortage.
Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government John Paul Phelan said there was a need to promote water conservation, adding that the suggestion of a hosepipe ban is one possible measure.
Hosepipe ban
Irish Water has the power to introduce a hosepipe ban and restrict the use of commercial car washes under current legislation, according to the minister.
Alan Farrell raised the issue of the pressure on Ireland’s water supply during this week’s hot weather, stating that restrictions under the Water Services Act 2007 should be implemented.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Farrell said it is appropriate to look at the implementation of hosepipe bans, administered either through Irish Water or through the local authorities.
“This is a serious issue that will need to be addressed until such time as the capital and, indeed, other parts of the country have a water supply capable of withstanding more than a few days of sunshine. Today is a beautiful day. The temperature is in the high twenties in Dublin. I am sure it is higher elsewhere in the country,” he said.
He added:
There are six locations in the State that are without water at the moment, including one location in my own constituency, another in County Longford, and other places.
Replying to Dublin North TD, the minister said Irish Water is prepared to use section 56 of the 2007 legislation.
“It has the capability under law to act when it finds treated water is at an unacceptably low-level,” he said.
Phelan said that under the Water Services Act 2007 there are already statutory provisions for the introduction of a such a ban and other restrictions designed to conserve water supplies during times of drought.
It also provides for a fine of €125 for breach of such restrictions.
These arrangements can come into force when a water services authority – which effectively means Irish Water – is of the opinion that a serious shortage of water supplies exists or is imminent in an area, he explained.
This would typically be during or following a prolonged period of dry weather but, in any event, it is possible for Irish Water to make such an order where demand is expected to exceed supply and it becomes necessary to restrict the use of water supplies including restricting certain activities involving the use of water.
The minister said that specified activities which may be restricted include watering a garden, watering of recreational parks or sports grounds, irrigating or spraying crops, washing vehicles, the provision of commercial washing services for a vehicle or trailer, or filling or replenishing a swimming pool or an artificial pond or lake.
In practice, the restrictions may apply to specified activities for all or specified parts of the day.
Making an order
Before making an order the water services authority must give public notice of its intention to make such order and the period for which the order will remain in force through advertising in the public press or broadcast announcements on television or local or national radio, said Phelan.
The minister said such provisions are well established in other European and international jurisdictions.
“While the option of a hosepipe ban is there, we need to look to other conservation measures and the management of our water supplies. Irish Water’s drought management group has been meeting to assess the risk to drinking water supplies,” said Phelan.
The minister said Irish Water has advised him that current storage in the raw water reservoirs in the greater Dublin area, at Roundwood and Pollaphuca, are reasonable and they do not see water shortages at present.
However, if the summer and autumn continue dry and hot, these reservoirs will come under pressure later in the year.
“It behoves all authorities of the State, in addition to citizens, to recognise that their use of water will have a direct impact on their neighbours and communities if they do not act responsibly. Most people recognise that in times of scarcity, such as this, it is up to them to be responsible in their use of water,” concluded the minister.
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I’m pretty sure James Joyce is the literary equivalent of revolut, those you have read it look down on those who haven’t and those who haven’t don’t see what the fuss is about.
@Gerard Martin: well said. It made me smile
@Gerard Martin: Revolut’s pretty handy though and I’m not exactly loaded
@Gerard Martin: it’s actually the opposite. Those who have had read Joyce are looked down upon by those who haven’t. And those who have read him understand what the fuss is about.
@michael: and those who said they have read and finished it are liars.
@Breda Kelly: Ulysses.
@Breda Kelly: Nice passive-aggressive sweeping statement. I’ve read it and finished it. Not all in one go mind. Am I a liar?
@Breda Kelly: absolute nonsense. I have read three times over a long period and ad a Dub enjoyed it hugely.
@Breda Kelly: There was no category for “tried but didn’t finish”. Had that been available, it might have been the top answer. For many of us “yes” is the technically correct answer to the question posed but “no” is the more honest answer.
@michael: Well said. People should maybe approach Ulysses through an audiobook. It’s a lot of fun :)
@michael: You just endorsed the comment Gerard posted.
People should try ‘Dubliners’ first, Ulysses is a far bigger challenge.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a good read and Dubliners is a nice collection of short stories. Neither have the infamous ‘Joyce an prose’, that stream of consciousness style that is so difficult.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist do have stream of consciousness but not to the extent of Ulysses (or the impossible Finnegan’s Wake). They’re both really accessible and enjoyable to read.
Where’s the option for “I tried but couldn’t manage it and gave up”
Worth reading Dubliners and specifically The Dead even if you’re not inclined to try out the other novels.
YES
NO
have read the Dubliners, the dead and half of ulysees; gave up on ulysees as whilst could admire the descriptive detail, book is just not enjoyable; the dead is similar but shorter; Dubliners much better read.
would compare joyce to uncle colm from derry girls, a lot of rambling stories with no real narrative an little interst to majority listening
@Steve Clancy: the Dead is one of the short stores in Dubliners, is it not?
A better poll would be:
1. “Have you ever started to read Ulysses?”
2. “Did you finish it?”
@Ronan Quinlan: I use my copy as a doorstop, always a silver lining.
I have read and loved Ulysses. The language is beautiful and evocative. I find all of the hype and hot air about Joyce around this time of year intensely irritating. Joyce himself probably would have had great fun making fun of the whole Bloomsday lark.
Parts of Ulysses are easily read and enjoyable. I particularly like the scene in the pub at Glasnevin where the Citizen (said to be based on Michael Cusack, a founder of the GAA) swears at Leopold Bloom for saying that Jesus had been a Jew.
@Patrick Brompton: The pub in the Cyclops episode of Ulysses that includes that encomtrr between Bloom and the Citizen is Barney Kiernan’s in Little Britain Street, sadly no longer a pub.. An empty shell of a building.
No but I’d like to (but will never bother).
Read The Dead and you will understand the fuss. Only 60 pages long.
Yes I’ve read Dubliners, it’s quite accessible and not difficult to read, plus it’s short stories so you can read it in bite sized pieces, as it were.
I got as far as halfway through the first chapter of Ulysses. I was proud of that.
half way through Ulysses audio book , quite an experience . really enjoyable.
Dubliners is very enjoyable. I read it first as a teenager and he highlighted all the traits I hated in adults.
Portrait of the Artist is the best place to start ..
So many characters in Ulysses of the type still thriving today. Joyce even anticipated the safe-in-their-bubble know-alls of the commentariat here who end their comments with a “Jesus Wept.”
This from Chapter 3 of Ulysses: His pace slackened. Here. Am I going to aunt Sara’s or not? My consubstantial father’s voice. Did you see anything of your artist brother
Stephen lately? No? Sure he’s not down in Strasburg terrace with his aunt
Sally? Couldn’t he fly a bit higher than that, eh? And and and and tell us,
Stephen, how is uncle Si? O, weeping God, the things I married into! De
boys up in de hayloft. The drunken little costdrawer and his brother, the
cornet player. Highly respectable gondoliers! And skeweyed Walter sirring
his father, no less! Sir. Yes, sir. No, sir. Jesus wept: and no wonder, by
Christ!
My mam was delighted I was born on Bloomsday yet neither of us have read it as far as I know – I certainly haven’t anyway
Would it be as hard to read as Tolstoy’s War and Peace? incidentally, Tolstoys original title to War and Peace was ‘War, What Is It Good For? Thats how the song came about!
@Pauline Gallagher: Easier character names than Tolstoy’s, there’s that.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: ah ok. I was joking about the book title btw.
The Most Dangerous Book in the World about how difficult it was to get Ulysses published is very interesting
Trying to read Ulysses at the moment. Cannot get the hang of it at all. I’ve three chapters read and it just appears to me to be the insane ramblings of a semi-senile old idiot. Nothing makes sense in it, no story line. Will probably finish it just to be able to say that I have read it. How it is regarded as the greatest novel of the 20th century is beyond me. Nora Barnacle was right when she said to him “why don’t you write books that people can read”. This book to me is totally unreadable. I dread to think what Finnigans Wake is like.
@John Cassin: if you want a traditional storyline there’s literally millions of other books to choose from, I think it’s safe to say that Joyce was trying something different with Ulysses. He wasn’t senile or old when he wrote it, it’s all very carefully put together. I’d recommend listening to the RTE audiobook first, but if you really hate it just don’t read it. Simples.
@John Cassin: I read it in a group at a library with a coordinator who was familiar with the book (and probably an expert). Pretty sure I would never have read it on my own. If you have to go it alone maybe read online summaries of the chapters first. You could probably skip a few and come back to them another time.
It’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ NOT ‘Finnegan’s Wake’. It was surely that apostrophe that hastened the good man’s end.
Yes, but I preferred Beckett.
Yes I said yes I have yes.
Ulysses..complete drivel….give me Irvine Welsh anytime
I actually read 1000 pages of it and gave up. Lets be franks, it is impenetrable b*ll*cks. You can clearly see why Joyce is lauded, but it really is just a trudge. My version of it had a 250 page introduction. There is also a stint without full stops for God knows how many pages.
Posters here seem to be mixing “read Joyce” with read Ulysses”
I have read Dubliners and really enjoyed it, got through 100 pages of Ulysses, kinda liked it but have a life so wasn’t motivated to read the final 899 pages, might do one day though.
have your say