NI Water directorDes Nevin warns of loss of supply

Mr. Nevin said the public water system was placed under severe pressure over the weekend and some customers have already suffered low pressure.

“If demand continues at this level it will lead to failures in our network and customers in certain areas will lose supply or suffer low pressure. Some customers over the past few days are already experiencing this, especially those on high ground. On Saturday we put 705 million litres of water into our distribution system, this is 120 million litres more than normal,” he said.

The senior NI Water executive asked people to refrain from wasteful practices.

“We are asking our customers to help us, especially over the next few days where the temperature will continue to be above 20 degrees. We know from the increase in our night usage some customers are leaving sprinklers and hose on overnight, please stop. A hose uses more water in one hour than the average family uses in a whole day. While it is tempting, don’t fill swimming or paddling pools. This is a waste of a precious resource. Filling a 12ft swimming pool in your back yard uses the water for 500 people’s daily handwashing. A pressure washer can also be a massive drain, so please think about whether the task is really essential at the moment,” he said.