Irish Water lifts conservation measures for Leitrim

Irish Water's Water Conservation Order has been lifted for the north and west of the country due to increased rainfall and improved supply levels.

The Irish Water Board met today (Tuesday 28th August) to assess the need to extend the Water Conservation Orders that will expire on Friday, 31 August in a bid to safeguard water supply for homes and businesses across the country.

The Board considered detailed analysis of drinking water sources (river flows and lake levels) from engineering experts within Irish Water and the local authorities, including the hydrologist records of OPW and the ESB and future weather forecasts. 

The Water Conservation Order has been lifted for the north west region which includes Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Longford, Cavan and Monaghan. In the midlands and south east, supplies are now generally functioning normally, with full service levels available. However, borehole and river levels remain historically low and we must provide for potentially dry weather during September. We are therefore appealing to all customers to continue to conserve water in these areas as the supplies remain lower than normal.

The Water Conservation Order will remain in place for the Greater Dublin Area which includes Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare and in counties Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Laois, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny until Sunday, 30 September 2018.

The first four weeks of August has seen some periods of rainfall nationally. In the North and West of the country, this has resulted in increased flows in rivers, some recovery in lake levels, which have been confirmed by the OPW and ESB monitoring data. In these areas, in particular, Irish Water has been able to scale back the emergency measures put in place during July, with the majority of water supplies working normally.