Water cuts at night affecting thousands in Offaly

by Kevin O'Neill

Approximately 2,200 homes and businesses in parts of Offaly are being affected by ongoing night-time water supply restrictions which began on Monday of this week.

The scheduled outages are currently affecting premises in the vicinity of Horseleap, Rahan and Clara.

And Uisce Éireann told the Offaly Independent on Wednesday that the ongoing dry spell meant it could not rule out the possibility of further water restrictions being introduced in other parts of the county.

The night-time water outages were introduced on Monday, July 13, with Uisce Éireann stating that they were necessary to "help protect local water supplies during a period of exceptionally high demand".

A spokesperson for the national water supplier said: “By allowing treated water reservoirs to recover overnight, the measures help maintain day-time water supplies for homes, businesses, farms and essential services while pressure on the network remains elevated.”

When asked whether other parts of Offaly could see similar restrictions being put in place, the spokesperson said Uisce Éireann continues to “closely monitor water source levels, customer demand and network performance across Offaly and the wider Midlands”.

Uisce Éireann said night-time restrictions and water conservation orders are only introduced where necessary to protect local water supplies.

“While no decisions have been made regarding additional restrictions, we will continue to assess supplies on an ongoing basis and take action where required to protect customers and maintain water services,” the spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“The current spell of warm, dry weather, combined with increased seasonal demand, is placing additional pressure on water supplies. We are therefore asking customers to continue making every effort to conserve water and use it wisely.”

The very warm weather is expected to continue into next week.