Water conservation order remains in place for much of Westmeath

Uisce Éireann is reminding customers that the Water Conservation Order, commonly referred to as a hosepipe ban, issued on May 6, remains in place for the Mullingar Regional Public Water Supply, which serves much of South Westmeath

The Conservation Order was issued in a bid to safeguard the water supply for essential purposes. The supply is sourced from Lough Owel and serves more than 50,000 customers across a large area of County Westmeath.

Areas in South Westmeath affected include parts of Moate, Ballymore, Moyvoughly, Moyvore, Kilbeggan and Horseleap.

The full list of areas impacted is Mullingar Town and surrounding areas, Ballynacarrigy, Moyvore, Ballymore, Moate, Moyvoughly, Streete, Rathowen, Lismacaffrey, Crookedwood, Multyfarnham, Bunbrosna, Rathconrath, Killucan, Raharney, Coralstown, Kinnegad, Milltownpass, Tyrrellspass, Dalystown, Kilbeggan, Ballinagore, Gaybrook, Dysart, Horseleap and Castletown Geoghan

The implementation of the order earlier this month followed a long period of dry weather over autumn, winter and spring, combined with steady demand, as a result of which the water supply at Lough Owel, has come under severe stress.

Despite heavy rainfall in the last week, the water levels at Lough Owel remain critically lower than previously recorded at this time of year. It is considered that significant levels of rainfall over a prolonged period are required for the source to recover.

Lough Owel is a spring-fed lake and any rain that falls today will take a number of months to filter through soils and bedrock before it gets to the lake.

It is essential that the Water Conservation Order remains in place for the Mullingar Regional Public Water Supply to reduce the potential of restrictions and outages over the coming weeks and months.

In response, Uisce Éireann have increased our efforts with a series of measures to safeguard supply, including doubling down on leakage detection, pipe repair, and overall network management.

Uisce Éireann engineer Jon Mayfield, who has worked on water network management across Westmeath for many years, explains how leaks are identified for repair and details recent progress from intensifying the efforts.

“There are more than 1,350km of watermains under the ground across Westmeath – enough pipes to cover the distance from Malin Head to Mizen Head almost three times.

“This vast network is divided into 110 areas. We know the expected demand for each area based on experience and use of technology. If there’s an unexplained increase in an area, it flags a leak, and a crew is sent to investigate.

“Major bursts on the network are usually visible and easy to find but about a third of leaks remain hidden underground.

“Experienced and committed crews have several tools to investigate hidden leaks, including acoustic equipment which can pinpoint leaks underground, directing them to precise locations to plan for repairs.

“We’ve doubled our resources this year, which is paying dividends. We’ve detected and repaired 134 leaks on the public network since November 2024, leading to savings of 540,000 litres per day.

“These water savings are equivalent to the daily demand of 4,000 people or the combined daily requirements for Moate, Tyrrellspass and Ballymore.”

Uisce Éireann are also installing eight control valves on the network, which reduce the likelihood of bursts and give better control of the network, also allowing reservoirs to recover at times of low demand.

Fionnuala Callery, Regional Technical Operations manager for Uisce Éireann, said: “Uisce Éireann would like to thank the people of Mullingar and the surrounding areas across Westmeath for their earnest efforts to conserve water and protect the lake since we’ve introduced the Water Conservation Order.

“Uisce Éireann’s top priority is to protect the water supply for use in homes, businesses and essential services. Despite heavy rainfall over the last week, the water levels at Lough Owel remain critically low for the time of year.

“It is considered that significant levels of rainfall over a prolonged period are required for the lake to recover as it follows a period of almost a year when rainfall was consistently, significantly below average.

“We will continue to analyse water consumption levels while the Water Conservation Order is in place. It is essential that our water supply is protected if we are to reduce the potential of restrictions and outages over the coming weeks and months.

“During this time, we are supporting and advising commercial water users on water conservation and continuing their efforts to avoid unnecessary use. We’re also working with local farming organisations to support conservation efforts and recycle water where possible.

“There are lots of helpful tips for conserving water on our website, but the key messages are to leave the hose and the pressure washer in the shed; reuse household water for the garden; and take shorter showers. We are calling on everyone to play their part so we can maintain supply over the summer months,” Fionnuala added.

The Conservation Order prohibits the use of garden hosepipes and other non-essential uses of water by domestic users and commercial premises for non-commercial activities, for example watering gardens attached to a business premises.

To help people learn more about saving water Uisce Éireann has developed an easy-to-use conservation calculator so they can work out how much water they are currently saving and how they can conserve even more. The calculator is available on our conservation section where you can also find lots of useful water saving tips.

Members of the public can report any leaks in the public water network by contacting Uisce Éireann 24/7 at 1800 278 278 or on water.ie.