College has today called for a reduction in water consumption across its campuses. The call follows Irish Water’s decision to issue a hose pipe ban across the greater Dublin area. The ban, which took effect today, will be in place until July 31.
College will use water drawn from wells for any landscape watering on campus. However, it has called for staff and students to only use water when absolutely necessary.
Estates and Facilities issued several requests today, including: to ensure taps are turned off when not in use; that laboratory equipment consuming water is turned off immediately after use; and that College residences do not run taps when washing teeth and take showers for the shortest time possible.
Irish Water’s ban includes all activities which consume a large amount of water, such watering a garden, cleaning a private motor vehicle using a domestic hose pipe, and filling a or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool. The ban is mainly limited to domestic users with commercial gardens receiving an exemption.
According to their website, “Irish Water’s top priority during the current dry period is to protect our water supply for use in homes and businesses in the coming weeks and months. In response to the urgent need to conserve water, the Irish Water Board has this afternoon approved a Water Conservation Order that will prohibit the use of certain types of water usage in the Greater Dublin Area with effect from Monday 2nd July.”
Corporate Affairs Manager and water conservation expert Kate Gannon noted the importance of the ban, stating: “Imposing a Water Conservation Order is a measure that Irish Water now consider appropriate. It is essential that our water supply resources are conserved if we are to avoid restrictions and outages over the coming weeks and months.”
Gannon also expressed her gratitude to the public: “We are really grateful for the measures that people have taken to conserve water so far and we hope that placing a Water Conservation Order will make people more mindful of their responsibilities and the impact their water usage is having on their neighbours and communities.”
The ban currently applies only to the greater Dublin region, however Irish Water intend to examine over 100 at-risk schemes for the possible application of the ban. Irish Water has also said that it will review the situation to determine whether this period needs to be extended.
This news follows days of high temperatures, with Met Éireann putting high temperature warnings in place for the coming days. The highest temperature recorded was 32 degrees Celsius at Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland last week. The forecaster also expects drought-like conditions to continue until at least next Friday night.
