Water conservation needed in south Leitrim as demand surges

Uisce Éireann is urging customers in south Leitrim to conserve water and protect supply. This notice comes following an increase in water usage by households and businesses supplied by Carrick-on-Shannon Water Treatment Plant.

Customers are encouraged to be mindful of their usage to help ensure that supply keeps pace with demand and allows reservoirs to fully replenish.

High usage of water can cause pressure reductions, impacting the supply of water to customers in the area.

There are a number of ways you can preserve water within your home.

Customers are being advised to take shorter showers, fix dripping taps or leaking toilets and to turn off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving. This can save up to six litres of water per minute.

For more simple ways to conserve water, check out the Uisce Éireann conservation calculator (www.water.ie/calculator) which can help people work out how much water they are currently using and how they can conserve even more.

Water conservation can also be practised on the farm. Farmers are being asked to watch out for overflowing drinking troughs and to use dry cleaning techniques when cleaning the yard, such as using scrapers of brushes to remove solid waste before hosing.

On a dairy farm, farmers can divert clean plate cooler water to a tank and use it for parlour washing.

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Collecting rain from the roofs of farm buildings can also be used for a variety of activities such as washing down yards, reducing water consumption from the main supply.

Finally, farmers are advised to avoid contamination of surface waters by reducing or eliminating access to livestock by fencing off watercourses.

“There has been a noticeable increase in water demand across the South Leitrim areas in recent weeks,” said Peadar Griffin, Uisce Éireann.

“We are appealing to customers in these areas to conserve water to give the reservoirs time to replenish. 

“Any reduction that customers can make in their usage can collectively result in significant supply improvements for all homes and businesses.”

“It’s important that we all consider our water usage and look at simple yet impactful ways to conserve water. 

“It can sometimes be difficult to know where to start, but even small changes can make a significant difference,” Mr Griffin concluded.

Farmers can access more water saving tips at https://www.water.ie/conservation/business/take-action/agriculture/ 

Businesses can also access more information at water.ie/businessconserve

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