NI hosepipe ban: About 140 people reported

NI Water has warned customers to turn sprinklers off

Just under 140 people have been reported to NI Water for using their hosepipes during the current ban.

The hosepipe ban took effect in Northern Ireland at 18:00 BST last Friday.

NI Water had appealed for people not to use water for washing cars, filling pools, or sprinkling gardens, as supply failures hit some areas.

Its chief executive, Sara Venning, said demand had now reduced, but that it had spoken to about 140 people.

• When is it too hot to work?

• Hosepipe ban introduced amid heatwave

"If someone does feel the need to break the ban, it is about talking to people, approaching them and explaining to people about why it is important," she told BBC Radio Ulster.

"We have approached people, we have had some reports of the ban being broken and what we have done is we speak to the people, we explain what we are doing and the response on the whole has been very positive.

"They have said thanks for letting me know and they have stopped.

"We have been out to just under 140 people who have been reported to us.

"What we do is our teams have gone out, our operatives have gone out and spoken to those people, and we have had a good response."

In a statement, NI Water added that "further action has not been required".

Sara Venning said NI Water did not want to impose a hosepipe ban "longer than is necessary"

NI Water has asked people to:

• Take shorter showers

• Turn off the tap when brushing teeth

• Keep a jug of water in the fridge

• Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need

The last hosepipe ban in Northern Ireland was 23 years ago in 1995.

Customers can log on to NI Water's website for further information on water saving.

Temperatures

A month-long hosepipe ban is in force in the Republic of Ireland, which prohibits the watering of gardens, cleaning cars and other uses that are deemed non-essential.

Irish Water has said it is not ruling out imposing further restrictions on supply.

Ms Venning said NI Water did not want to impose a ban "longer than is necessary".

"Temperatures are due to go up again next week, the demand was very much linked to the temperature, and we are making sure we have enough headroom to provide that extra demand that our farmers and growers will start to need and are messaging that they will need," she added.

"That takes us to the supply side which is where you are seeing the other geographies bringing in their hosepipe ban.

"On supply, we are seven days since we introduced the ban, and we have had no rain.

"We see no forecast of rain in the near future, so we are looking at our raw water resources and the levels of storage within those and really then assessing what impact would lifting a ban have on their ability to continue to maintain supplies."