Westmeath County Council is pleading with householders not to leave taps running during the current severe weather conditions, as the practice will deplete water supplies and lead to cut-offs.
The council has issued a warning to all householders to “observe good water conservation practice”, including not running taps as “this will unnecessarily deplete water supplies and make planned cut-offs inevitable”, they say.
The advice is the result of some hard lessons learnt during the ‘big freeze’ of winter 2009-10, when hundreds of homes across the county had their water supplies cut off after reservoir levels ran low.
In a statement issued this week, Westmeath County Council said it is “making every effort to maintain an uninterrupted water supply to all its customers”.
It says the current severe weather has added two significant difficulties: the snow cover is making the identification and repair of leaks more difficult, and the lower than normal raw water temperature is restricting treated water output from the water plants.
The following advice is being issued to all householders:
“Westmeath County Council is appealing to all our customers to conserve water during these difficult times.
“All householders are requested to observe good water conservation practice in this current cold spell. Specifically, householders are requested not to run taps as this will unnecessarily deplete water supplies and make planned cut-offs inevitable.
“Please check all external pipes and taps for leakage and ensure that all are lagged sufficiently for the low temperatures.
“Farmers are requested to check all troughs and yard taps for burst pipes and insulate accordingly.”
“Westmeath County Council added that they would like to thank all consumers for their good water practices to date and hope to continue to rely on this good practice in the future.”
Anyone discovering a leak is asked to report it to Westmeath County Council at (044 ) 9332000.
