Leinster residents twice as likely to complain about alleged hosepipe ban breaches

People in Leinster were almost twice as likely to report their neighbours for washing cars, watering gardens and filling swimming pools during the recent hosepipe ban than their counterparts in the State’s other three provinces.The ban, officially called a water conservation order, was put in place in July as water supplies came under pressure due to a prolonged period of warm and dry weather. Homeowners were told they could report neighbours or anyone they believed to be in breach of the order to Uisce Éireann’s customer care team.During the period of nationwide water restrictions, calls from Leinster came in at around three times the rate as from Ulster (Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal), according to figures provided by Uisce Éireann following a Freedom of Information request.READ MOREThere were 7.5 complaints per 100,000 people in Leinster during the five-week period in which the nationwide ban was in place. This compared to a rate of 4.6 per 100,000 in Munster, 3.1 in Connacht and 2.6 in the three Ulster counties. Complaint rates were likely to be higher in built-up areas where more homes overlook each other.Uisce Éireann said there were 439 complaints across the full period in which the ban was in effect. Of these, 10 related to the filling of swimming pools and 85 to people washing their cars. There were 81 complaints regarding people hosing down driveways and 126 about the watering of plants and gardens.A total of 77 contacts were made to Uisce Éireann about “commercial” water use, though no further detail was provided on what that entailed. Sixty complaints were listed as involving “no specifics”. The order applied to domestic users only, with commercial operations such as car washes not falling within its scope.The figures also showed that the busiest times for complaints were in the earlier part of the restrictions, with 106 reports, nearly a quarter of the overall total, made between July 16th and 22nd. Asked about the records, Uisce Éireann said all restrictions had now been lifted due to an increase in rainfall and the “extraordinary efforts” made by people across the country to conserve water.[ Hosepipe ban lifted with ‘immediate effect’Opens in new window ]“These efforts helped to protect local water supplies during one of the hottest summers and driest July on record,” a spokesperson said.“Overall, the volume of contacts relating to breaches of the water conservation order represented a small portion of overall contacts to our customer care team – less than 1 per cent of total contact volume.”More broadly, Uisce Éireann said most contacts involved people asking for advice on what was and was not allowed or reporting leaks. “Our experience is that when people understand the reasons for restrictions, they respond positively and reduce non-essential water use.”