Cork County Council is planning to dispatch more specialist teams to bolster water supplies in vulnerable areas because of the likelihood of a repeat of drought conditions experienced last summer.
They have also bored new supply wells in such areas and expect to do more in the coming years because of climate change.
Council engineers said they were adapting the pilot project to tackle urgent supply situations and hope to expand it further as it is shown to be effective.
It is believed that around 48% of all water is lost nationally through leaking pipes.
Engineers said they had found one very “significant” leak in the Liscarroll area of North Cork which they had fixed.
They also put a temporary dam on the River Allow, which rises in Limerick and flows through Kanturk into the River Blackwater.
The dam was erected because the river level went so low that drinking water couldn’t be taken from it.
Meanwhile, engineers have warned that lower river levels will lead to a change in supply for the Mallow area and the likelihood that the town will be served solely by hard water, which can lessen the life of a number of domestic appliances.
They said that at present, the southern side of the town gets its water from a different supply and this is soft water.
However, they pointed out that as river levels continue to lower due to climate change and the population of Mallow increases, it is likely the whole town will end up being supplied from the Box Cross source.