{"id":50274,"date":"2025-07-09T02:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50274\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T02:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T02:28:10","slug":"drought-status-declared-in-eight-counties-as-heatwave-conditions-expected-this-week-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50274\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought status declared in eight counties as heatwave conditions expected this week \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Water supplies across 31 catchment areas in eight counties have officially entered \u201cdrought status<\/a>\u201d, with Uisce \u00c9ireann<\/a> appealing to customers to \u201creally consider\u201d their usage.<\/p>\n

Water supply catchment areas in counties Waterford, Offaly, Cork, Galway, Donegal, Meath, Kilkenny and Wexford are under drought status, according to the water utility.<\/p>\n

Conservation orders have been issued for Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Milford, Co Donegal; and Kells-Oldcastle, Co Meath, following what it described as a \u201ca drier-than-normal autumn, winter and spring\u201d.<\/p>\n

Drought status is not the same as a conservation order, which is only imposed when \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d, Uisce \u00c9ireann said. <\/p>\n

It comes as Ireland is expected to follow continental Europe into a heatwave later this week<\/a>, with temperatures potentially reaching the mid to high 20s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water network is experiencing increased pressure on supplies across several regions,\u201d Uisce \u00c9ireann said, citing counties Dublin, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, Galway, Donegal, Meath, Westmeath, Clare and Wexford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the warmer weather is certainly a welcome change, it does place additional demands on our water supplies. \u201c[We] would appeal to customers to take the opportunity to really consider their water usage and reflect on the daily and easy actions they can take to play their part in ensuring our water resources are used wisely\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland had its warmest spring on record Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The appeal comes despite provisional rainfall data from Met \u00c9ireann<\/a> last week that suggested June had experienced more rain than usual with a monthly average of 100mm, the wettest since 2022.<\/p>\n

Last month was also the fourth warmest June<\/a> in Ireland since data began to be collected by meteorologists in 1900, but experienced less sunshine than usual.<\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann explained that while Ireland experiences high levels of annual rainfall, much of the water is lost due to old water infrastructure. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis highlights the need for investment in our water networks and also compounds the need for water conservation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Household are urged to adopt several measures including using a watering can instead of a hose, turning off the tap when brushing teeth and ensuring that appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines are fully loaded before use.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0European Heatwave: Temperatures to reach 40 degrees Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning a hose for just one hour uses as much water as a family would typically need in an entire day,\u201d it said. Businesses have also been advised to conduct water audits, appoint a \u201cwater steward\u201d, and invest in water-saving devices. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Met \u00c9ireann has said <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Heat Domes and what is coming for Ireland Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

the rest of the week is forecast to be considerably drier and temperatures will increase as the week progresses with Friday potentially reaching 28 degrees. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water supplies across 31 catchment areas in eight counties have officially entered \u201cdrought status\u201d, with Uisce \u00c9ireann appealing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,37990,159,37991,67,132,68,37989],"class_list":{"0":"post-50274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-met-eireann","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uisce-eireann","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-weather-events"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114820920512827668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}