Dublin’s primary water supply could run dry in 70 days

While the heatwave may well be over, the lack of proper rainfall is still a major problem.

The Greater Dublin Area could be looking at its primary water source failing in less than three months. While the weather in the country is returning to more normal temperatures, the level of rainfall is still far less than usual for this time of the year. Additionally, there are conflicting reports that the warm weather and lack of rain may even continue all the way into October. Combined, these could present a major problem for Dublin's water supplies over the next few weeks. Speaking to Newstalk, head of Irish Water Jerry Grant said:

"About the 10th or 12th of May, we had 150 days storage in Poulaphouca [Reservoir]. It's an enormous resource of water and it saves the city year in, year out," he said. "We used 80 days of that storage in 83 days. In other words, almost nothing was contributed to the storage in that period. "We've about 70 days of usable water left for the Greater Dublin Area, 1.6m people. We could be 90 days before that lake starts to rise depending on how dry the autumn is."

In the meantime, Irish Water has confirmed that the hosepipe ban in the area has been extended to Friday 31 August, with a map of the Greater Dublin Water Supply Area to which the ban applies.