Worrying reports Dublin's main water supply could run dry in 70 days

Picture: thesourcemagazine.org

Irish water say it could take up to 90-days for the Poulaphouca Reservoir to fill again

The Greater Dublin Area could be looking at its primary water source failing in less than three months.

The worrying report comes from the head of Irish Water, Jerry Grant who says it could take up to 90-days for the Reservoir to rise again, depending on Autumn rainfall.

Speaking to Newstalk, Mr Grant said:

"About the 10th or 12th of May, we had 150 days storage in Poulaphouca [Reservoir]. It's an enormous resource of water and it saves the city year in, year out," he said.

"We used 80 days of that storage in 83 days. In other words, almost nothing was contributed to the storage in that period.

"We've about 70 days of usable water left for the Greater Dublin Area, 1.6m people. We could be 90 days before that lake starts to rise depending on how dry the autumn is."

While the heatwave may be over, the amount of rainfall we've experienced is still far less than usual for this time of the year.

In the meantime, Irish Water have confirmed that the hosepipe ban in the area has been extended to Friday 31 August, with a map of the Greater Dublin Water Supply Area to which the ban applies.