RESIDENTS of a Tipperary town have been warned to not drink the local water supply because it’s contaminated.
2 The ban advice was repeated by Irish Water general manager Eamon Gallen this morning as he outlined how long water shortages and restrictions affecting some homes in other parts of the country will remain in place as a result of Storm Emma.
“It’s very important that customers do not drink that water, it’s more serious than a boil water notice which is serious enough.” Water restrictions are in place across 16 counties which could potentially affect 1.2million people.
Speaking on RTE Radio 1 Morning Ireland, he said that there’s still 35,000 households without water and that 48,000 outside of Dublin are experiencing restricted supply.
2 The measures have been introduced because of leaks in the network and increased demand during the Storm Emma snow blizzard last week.
There was widespread anger last night after some people, expecting their water pressure to decrease after an announcement earlier in the day, discovered that their water had been turned off completely after 7pm until 7am this morning.
Mr Gallen apologised to those affected but warned that the disruption will last days at the very least and could be even weeks.
“Unfortunately these conservation measures are likely to continue for a number of days or even weeks as we have to manage the supply of water to ensure businesses schools and homes can run during the day.” And he also had advice for what customers could do to lessen the impact.
This included: Don’t use your washing machine Don’t use your dishwasher Take shorter showers Don’t leave the tap running while you brush your teeth He said: “Customers should have sufficient storage in their attic tank to get through about 24 hours.
Small measures like that make a huge difference.