Water shortage warning in Northern Ireland as demand outstrips supply

The infrastructure minister said a hose uses more water in one hour than an average family in a day

NI Water has asked the public to reduce water use as the system is under extreme pressure due to an increase in demand over recent days.

It said it had pumped 740 million litres of water into the system on Saturday - an increase of about 30% on an average day.

Tankers are moving millions of litres to keep reservoirs topped up.

The infrastructure minister said there had been in increase in water usage due to the prolonged dry weather.

On Saturday, Northern Ireland recorded its hottest day on record when the temperature at the Ballywatticock weather station reached 31.2C.

NI Water said people need to reduce their water use or risk running dry.

Des Nevin said the current usage is unsustainable

Des Nevin, customer and operations director, said: "Normally we would put in around 580 million litres into the distribution system on a daily basis.

"Yesterday we put in 740 million, so we had an increase of over 160 million litres into our distribution system.

"We can't sustain that for a long period of time."

Heather McMillan, from Ballyhalbert, has been without a reliable water supply for days

Speaking on Friday, Nichola Mallon said people needed "to act now to protect water levels and prevent interruptions to supply or low pressure".

"How we use our water can have a massive impact on water levels," she said.

"A hose for example uses more water in one hour than the average family uses in a whole day. Large swimming pools and pressure washers also use massive amounts of water."

Mr Nevin said NI Water was asking people to think about the water they are using.

"Do you really need to use it? And if not, don't," he added.

"Otherwise we will find ourselves in a position whereby we just can't keep up with the demand - in other words, supply will not be fit to meet demand, and customers will be out of supply."

"We're asking people not to do things that are not necessary - in other word,s the watering of gardens, the filling of paddling pools, the washing of your car."

Heather McMillan says the quality of water when it does come on is very poor

Heather McMillan has been hauling water for three days to keep her animals hydrated over the weekend heatwave.

The water supply to their part of Ballyhalbert, on the Ards Peninsula, went off on Friday. It has come back on only briefly since then.

NI Water said a burst pipe was the problem there, but that the issue has been exacerbated by a huge increase in demand.

When the water supply does come back, Ms McMillan said the quality was so poor, she would not even give it to her horses.

"We have no washing facilities, no showering facilities. No way to use the dishwasher," she said.

James McClements says his milk yields are down

Her neighbour, James McClements, has a herd of 400 cattle, and has used well water since Friday. But those wells have now run dry.

He said his cows were producing less milk because there was no fresh water.

"Cows need water to produce milk. A standard cow can consume 50 to 150 litres a day and if it's not there, they're fighting and bullying to try and get water."