Uisce Éireann is extending its hosepipe ban to the entire Republic of Ireland from this Friday until August 26th.

The All Ireland Science Media Centre asked experts to comment.

Dr Fiachra O’Loughlin, Director of the Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin, comments:

“It’s not surprising that a national hosepipe ban is planned, given the extended period of exceptionally dry weather we’ve just experienced. Since roughly February, Dublin has received nearly 100 mm less rain than normal and the shortfall would have been even worse were it not for a very wet June. A similar deficit has occurred in the South and Southwest. Even in the rainy West, Galway region deficit is around 30 mm below normal and over 50 mm below normal in the Northwest.

“This represents a significant volume of missing water compared to what we normally receive. For example, if we assume an average shortfall of 50 mm across the entire island, that equates to roughly 4 cubic kilometres of missing water or about six thousand Croke Park Stadiums. There is no way we could store a volume of water this large. Even if we received double the normal rainfall next month, we would still be in deficit.

“Hosepipe bans are a mild but necessary inconvenience. Not only to protect drinking water supplies, but also to safeguard aquatic life in our rivers and lakes in the months ahead.”

Declaration of interest: none received