Uisce Éireann defends hotline for people to report ‘non-essential’ use of water
Vivienne Clarke
Margaret Attridge, Head of Water Operations at Uisce Éireann, has defended the introduction of a hotline where people can report incidents of “non-essential” use of water.
“We're providing a hotline because we're not asking people to confront people. We don't want to cause any neighbourhood disputes here. People can contact us and we will follow up with individuals,” she told Newstalk Breakfast with Anton Savage.
Uisce Éireann is also appealing to people to check for leaks and to refrain from doing things like washing their car and watering their lawn.
A six-week hosepipe ban will be introduced for six counties from Thursday, 16th July.
The hosepipe ban will apply in Dublin, parts of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, South Tipperary and parts of Wexford.
“If people want to find out if their area is included in the hosepipe ban, in the water conservation order, there are maps available on our website and by going on to our website and putting in your code, you'll understand whether you're included in the area of the hosepipe ban or not.”
Attridge explained that the hosepipe ban precludes the use of a hosepipe to water the garden, clean the car, fill a paddling pool or an ornate pond that does not include fish.
There were other ways to water the garden, she said. There was expert advice available around using watering cans and focusing the watering on the root zone and carrying out the watering early in the morning or late in the evening, so there's less evaporation.
A lot of water is wasted on non-essential purposes, she added. That was why the hosepipe ban and water conservation measures were being introduced “so that we can all work together to protect water for essential purposes.
“It could get to the stage where the communities that these people live in are put on night-time restrictions.
"That the service to their community, to hospitals in their community, to care homes in their communities, does get impacted. And that is why we are bringing in this hosepipe ban, the water conservation order, to get people who live in these communities to work with us so that we can all work together to protect water for essential purposes.”
