Irish Water has said discussions are ongoing with local authorities in the Greater Dublin Area – including Kildare and Wicklow – regarding the introduction of water restrictions.
A spokesperson said no final decision has been made but it is "looking likely" that restrictions could be introduced early next week.
Irish Water said it is trying to achieve a balancing act between the impact on households and businesses and also to see how much water can be saved through nighttime restrictions.
Twenty-one schemes around the country are already experiencing water restrictions, including parts of Athlone, Carlow and Kilkenny.
While the national hosepipe ban has made a difference to the situation the company said it is not enough and restrictions are likely to be introduced to some other parts of the country.
Yesterday, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy said that unless there is significant rainfall so there is a risk of water shortages in September.
"The level of rain is nowhere near what we need to replenish our lakes and reservoirs", he said.
Minister Murphy said the hosepipe ban will continue throughout July and possibly into August.
He said: "There is a risk of shortages as we look ahead to September."
Met Éireann said a status yellow drought advisory remains in place across the country until Friday and is likely to be extended.

Sweden’s heatwave shows no sign of ending, but there is a risk of forest fires in almost all of the country, and the drought is a problem for farmers.
National weather agency SMHI currently has wildfire warnings in place in all of Sweden apart from in the mountains in the north-west, and the long heatwave is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
"The weather will be what it is now for the next ten days.
That is around 25C in most of the country," SMHI meteorologist Therese Gadd told Swedish news agency TT.
More than 2,000 calls came in to emergency services during the month of June alone about wildfires and the public is urged to respect any barbecue bans in place in their local area.
This weekend could see some showers.
Stockholm is set for 27C, but also two millimetres of rain on Saturday, and rain is also expected in Kiruna in northern Sweden on both weekend days.
But the light precipitation will not affect the drought causing problems across the country.
A much more sustained period of rain would be required – and sorely needed – to improve the situation.
Sweden has asked for emergency support from the EU to help farmers who are struggling to feed their animals, and have warned that they may have to carry out emergency slaughter of livestock.

A small area of Miller County is in severe drought status, with the majority of that county in moderate drought status.
All of Hempstead County and all of Nevada County are in moderate drought status.
In Union County, there are areas of severe drought, moderate drought, abnormally dry, and no drought.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor report, most areas in the lower Mississippi Valley and southern Great Plains recorded little or no rainfall, with moderate to isolated heavy amounts limited to parts of central Oklahoma, western Texas, and the Louisiana Bayou.
Farther north, a re-assessment of conditions led to some improvement being introduced in the Texas Panhandle (especially northern sections) and eastern parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle and adjacent western Oklahoma.
Also, grass fires have become unusually common across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.
Most of the new D3 area recorded only 2 to 4 inches of rain in the last 90 days, and 3-month totals of only 0.5 to 1.5 inches (with widely isolated higher amounts) were recorded in the new D4 region.
The National Weather Service Office in Shreveport, La., is predicting a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday, with a 20 percent chance Wednesday night.
Thursday’s forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, and a 30 percent chance is predicted for Friday.
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms is forecast for Saturday, with a 20 percent chance for Sunday.

California’s wildfire season is off to its worst start in 10 years.
From the Oregon border to Napa County, Santa Barbara to San Diego, thousands of firefighters with helicopters, bulldozers and air tankers are battling hot temperatures and windy conditions at a time when, most years, summer fire season has barely begun.
Add to all that dead vegetation difficult local conditions, and the fact that the winter of 2017-2018 was drier than normal in much of the state, leaving the moisture levels of plants, shrubs and trees dangerously low.
A heat wave in recent days that sent temperatures in Los Angeles County to 115 degrees made conditions difficult for the Holiday Fire, which burned 13 homes in Goleta, in Santa Barbara County, and now is 95 percent contained.
That’s because most rain stops by April and doesn’t start again until November.
Last year’s Wine Country fires in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and other Northern California counties began in October, killing 44 people and burning 8,900 structures.
And the Cedar Fire, which killed 15 people and burned 273,000 acres in San Diego County, also burned that month.
“I expect this will be a challenging year because of this early activity.” The total of 196,092 acres burned in California so far this year is more than twice the average of the previous five years through July 9, which was 77,905 acres, and also far more than the average of the previous 10 years, which was 111,490 acres.
Last year at this time, only 68,647 acres had burned in California — barely one-third of this year’s total so far.
The Wine Country fires in Napa and Sonoma counties were followed in December by the Thomas Fire, which burned 281,063 acres in Santa Barbara County — making it the largest wildfire in state history — before mudslides in the burned area killed 21 people the following month.

If there isn’t significant precipitation soon, there could be cause for concern for local farmers.
June saw about one inch of rain, which is well below the historical average of 2.5 inches and the current trend indicates there could be less rain this month.
According to MSU Extension Agriculture Educator Jim DeDecker, crops can withstand drought conditions for some time, but rain or another source of water is needed when plants reach their pollination stage.
Pollination stages can vary by plant.
“I took a ride the other day and some of the crops in Presque Isle were showing drought stress,” DeDecker said.
Crop stress is not widespread right now — at least in this area — but it could be if we don’t get more rain.” Although it was a nuisance at the time it hit, the mid-April snowstorm helped saturate the soil significantly and that helped slow the damage to the crops, DeDecker said.
The high humidity that has accompanied the recent heat also has helped because it reduces or slows the evaporation of moisture from the leaves of the plants.
“There is less water drawn out of the plant and helps keep it from dehydrating,” he said.
If the dry and hot conditions continue, the odds of crop damage climbs significantly.
Over the next two weeks, there is little rain in the forecast, Weather Service meteorologist Tim Locker said.

California’s wildfire season is off to its worst start in 10 years.
From the Oregon border to Napa County, Santa Barbara to San Diego, thousands of firefighters with helicopters, bulldozers and air tankers are battling hot temperatures and windy conditions at a time when, most years, summer fire season has barely begun.
Add to all that dead vegetation difficult local conditions, and the fact that the winter of 2017-2018 was drier than normal in much of the state, leaving the moisture levels of plants, shrubs and trees dangerously low.
“I can say it’s the most significant fire behavior across the state that we’ve ever seen,” Brunton said.
“Whatever the reason may be we’re seeing a lot of dry fuels and weather that contributed to rates of spread when a fire starts.”
“We typically do not see this kind of fire behavior this time of year.
That blaze, at 35,250 acres, has crossed into Oregon and was just 30 percent contained Monday afternoon, having burned 81 structures with 800 still at risk.
And the 2003 Cedar fire, which killed 15 people and burned 273,000 acres in San Diego County, also burned that month.
Last year at this time, only 68,647 acres had burned in California — barely one-third of this year’s total so far.
The Wine Country fires in Napa and Sonoma counties were followed in December by the Thomas fire, which burned 281,063 acres in Santa Barbara County — making it the largest wildfire in state history — before mudslides in the burned area killed 21 people the following month.

Oklahoma received less than an inch of rainfall over the week ending July 8, with the highest precipitation totals recorded in the Panhandle district at 0.67 of an inch, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Southern Plains Regional Field Office, Oklahoma.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, drought conditions were rated 27 percent severe to exceptional, down 1 point from the previous week.
Statewide temperatures averaged in the low 80s.
There were 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork.
Corn silk reached 44 percent, up 7 points from the previous year.
Sorghum planted reached 96 percent, up 3 points from the previous year.
Soybeans planted reached 99 percent, up 8 points from the previous year.
Soybeans setting pods reached 1 percent.
Peanuts pegging reached 52 percent, up 14 points from the previous year.
Cotton setting bolls reached 10 percent, up 10 points from the previous year and up 3 points from normal.

Irish Water warns new restrictions may still be needed unless usage drops The drought could be over, according to Met Éireann, which has forecast scattered showers across the country by the end of the week, after more than 20 days without significant rain.
Met Éireann says that cloud will thicken on Tuesday evening and that by Wednesday showers will spread across the northern half of the island, which will have top temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees in the coming days.
Over Munster and south Leinster top temperatures will reach 21 to 23 degrees.
Winds will be light northeasterly and moderate near coasts.
Top temperatures of 22 to 25 degrees, but slightly cooler in the north and northwest with highs of 18 to 21 degrees.
Temperatures will reach 18 to 23 degrees in light northerly or variable breezes.
Temperatures are forecast to reach 24 degrees on Saturday, which is likely to start mostly dry, with sunny spells or hazy sunshine; cloud will increase from the west, with scattered showers spreading eastwards later and overnight.
Winds will become light to moderate southwest to westerly.
Sunday will be somewhat cloudier, with outbreaks of showery rain in light to moderate southwesterly winds.
In Dublin the UV index will be high on Tuesday, so protection against direct sunshine should be worn.

LITTLE ROCK — Drought has put its grip on nearly 80 percent of Arkansas and the state’s ranchers are having to make decisions to handle rapidly dwindling amounts of forage for their cattle.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday showed the 79.83 percent of the state with some drought rating.
Severe drought appeared in 2.19 percent of the state.
“I haven’t heard of any water problems yet.” John Jennings, extension forage specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said that even with the scattered showers of the last few days, “pasture recovery will require more than a few rain showers due to the dry soil profile and continued high temperatures.” Ranchers will need to make management decisions quickly during drought to maintain enough forage to feed the herd.
Manage it like standing hay and feed it a few acres at a time to make it last as long as possible.” • Rotational grazing is a good drought management tool.
Rotating pastures during drought conditions can help protect the pastures that will be needed for summer production.
• Feeding hay and limit grazing during dry weather can stretch available forage on drought-stressed pastures.
This practice may be detrimental to that pasture, but it helps protect forage in other pastures that will needed for later grazing.
Where pastures are grazed down to the soil and ranchers are feeding hay, “management strategies must focus on drought recovery.” Don Hubbell, head of the Livestock and Forestry Station in Batesville, said now “is also a good time for producers to be thinking about stockpiling fescue and bermudagrass for winter feeding.
12:11 3:39 For more information on managing during drought, visit https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/mp530.pdf and download or read “Drought Management and Recovery in Livestock Systems.” For more information about cattle and forage production, visit www.uaex.edu or contact your county extension office.

200,000-acre wildfire seasons could become more commonplace due to lack of precipitation as well as development, climate change With more than half of Colorado in a state of severe to exceptional drought — its driest conditions since 2002 — fire has found opportune conditions to scorch a path this year across more than 200,000 acres in the state, torching dozens of buildings and prompting hundreds of people to evacuate.
"Given the (weak) snowpack conditions we’ve seen and the heat we’ve seen, we’ve put together the perfect ingredients for these kinds of fires," Peter Goble, drought specialist with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University, said this week.
Snowpack levels in the southwest corner of the state, where the 416 fire has burned more than 54,000 acres north of Durango since June 1, were that area’s second-worst ever, Goble said.
And the mid-May melt-out from higher elevations in the San Juan Mountains happened earlier than ever, he said.
But he said there is reason to hope that the worst is over, as expected July rains should start to provide relief, especially to the southern half of the state, hardest hit by the arid conditions.
Jennifer Balch, assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said there is an undeniable link between both a warming climate and increased aridity with wildfires that are mounting in scope and frequency across the American West.
"In the Western U.S., regional temperatures have increased by almost 2 degrees since the 1970s, snowmelt is occurring a month earlier in some places and fire season length has increased by almost three months," she said.
Where there were 20 large fires a year then, since 2010 well over 100 large fires each year are burning."
And with more people moving into Colorado and building new homes where once there was quiet forest land or empty prairie, Balch said, the fire danger goes up.
"Over the last two decades in the continental United States, people started 84 percent of our wildfires."