Hosepipe Bans in Ireland Highlight a Water Infrastructure in Crisis

In May, Ireland’s national statutory water utility authority, Uisce Éireann, rolled out hosepipe bans in counties such as Dublin, Cork, and Galway, citing critically low reservoir levels and strained supply networks.

These restrictions, which prohibited non-essential water use like garden watering or car washing disrupted households and businesses alike. Rather more alarmingly, Uisce Éireann also flagged 17 other area, ranging from rural villages to urban centres, as being at risk of similar measures, with all supplies under “close monitoring.”

For a country surrounded by water, and noted for the kind of weather that delivers rain in abundance, this is indicative of a systemic failure, as even the most cursory review reveals.

The fact of the matter is this; Ireland’s water infrastructure is suffering from decades of underinvestment. This has given rise to a creaking and patchwork pipe network that is now being further burdened under the weight of population growth, urban sprawl, increased housing demand, and chronic leakage.

Uisce Éireann has reported that 37% of all treated water in the state is lost to leaks on a daily basis, a figure that, while improved from 46% in 2018, remains scandalously high.

In Dublin, the leakage rate is 33%, and in some older networks, it approaches 50%. This is not just inefficiency; it’s a betrayal of taxpayers who fund the treatment and distribution of water only to see it vanish into the ground.

The recent Dáil debate on Uisce Éireann, held in April, and prior to the hosepipe ban, laid bare the scale of the crisis and the frustration felt across the political spectrum.

Minister for Housing James Browne opened with a defence of the Government’s efforts, citing a ramp-up in capital investment from €300 million in 2014 to €1.3 billion in 2024, with a further €16.9 billion planned for 2025-2029. He touted the establishment of Uisce Éireann as a single national utility in 2013 as a “world-class” reform, arguing it has streamlined services previously fragmented across 31 local authorities. Yet, the chorus of criticism from TDs painted a different of delays, unaccountability, and communities literally left high and dry.

Deputy Cormac Devlin highlighted Dublin’s perilous over-reliance on the River Liffey, which supplies 85% of the greater Dublin area’s water. He warned that without the €4.6-€6 billion Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project, which would draw water from the Shannon, the region faces a supply crunch by the late 2020s.

Deputy Peter Cleere spoke of rural towns in Carlow-Kilkenny, like Mullinavat and Inistioge, where inadequate water infrastructure stifles housing development, forcing young families to relocate and eroding community vitality. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin quoted Uisce Éireann’s own chairman, Jerry Grant, who described the water system as in a “desperate state” due to “extraordinary complacency” over investment. Grant’s call for a new government approach was echoed by TDs who decried Uisce Éireann’s sluggish delivery and poor communication with local representatives.

Environmental concerns were also front and centre. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore cited the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 report, which revealed that 50% of Ireland’s urban wastewater treatment plants fail to meet EU standards, with raw sewage equivalent to the output of 40,000 people entering rivers and estuaries daily. She noted that many incidents stem from basic operational failures, like unmonitored pump breakdowns, rather than a lack of major infrastructure. Deputy Malcolm Byrne praised the Arklow wastewater plant’s completion but lamented that villages like Aughrim and Ferns-Camolin remain hamstrung by capacity constraints, with upgrades not expected until 2029.

The debate also exposed Uisce Éireann’s accountability deficit. TDs like Deputy Pat Buckley and Deputy George Lawlor recounted constituents’ struggles to get responses from the utility, with some, residents with serious medical conditions, left without water for basic hygiene. Deputy Catherine Callaghan described a Carlow developer’s six-year wait for a wastewater plant upgrade, stalling 48 homes until 2031. These stories underscore a utility that, despite its €2.2 billion Exchequer funding for 2025, seems disconnected from the public it serves.

There is a strong case to the argument that this crisis is a textbook case of government failure. Essential services like water supply should be a core state function, delivered efficiently and reliably. Instead, Ireland has a utility that, while publicly owned, is routinely criticised for operated like a private monopoly.

Uisce Éireann’s transition from 31 local authorities was meant to bring economies of scale and expertise, but there is mounting evidence that it has created a bureaucratic behemoth that struggles to respond to local needs.

The Dáil debate revealed a near-universal frustration among TDs, who find it “impossible” to get answers from Uisce Éireann’s Oireachtas liaison or secure timely interventions for constituents.

The leakage problem is particularly galling. Losing 37% of treated water is not just wasteful, it raises profound issues of fiscal responsibility. Every litre lost is a litre that Irish taxpayers paid to treat. While the Government’s plan to reduce leakage to 25% by 2030 is welcome, there is a clear recognition that it’s just too slow. For the better part of a decade now there have been endless demands for more urgent action, particularly around prioritising pipe replacement and leveraging technology for leak detection.

Major projects like the Shannon pipeline and Greater Dublin Drainage scheme continue to be slow-walked amid rising concerns about potential compulsory purchase of farm and agricultural land where the construction of the pipeline intersects.

The housing crisis, Ireland’s most pressing social issue, is also inextricably linked to water infrastructure. Irish politician from all sides have repeatedly highlighted how outdated systems stall developments, driving up costs and exacerbating shortages. While housing is seen as a top priority for the Irish Government, there is clear evidence that utilities like Uisce Éireann have nowhere near the kind of capital budgets needed to meet national housing targets.

The Government’s promise of additional funding via the National Development Plan review is an indication that more needs to be done in this space.

Ireland, of course, is not alone in facing water shortages. In Spain, Catalonia has imposed strict water restrictions since 2024, with reservoirs at historic lows due to prolonged drought. Barcelona’s residents face limits on car washing and pool filling, much like Ireland’s hosepipe bans. Spain’s challenges stem from issues like over-extraction, and, like Ireland, ageing infrastructure exacerbates the problem.

In Portugal, the Algarve region has introduced water rationing for agriculture and tourism, with reservoirs at 15% capacity in 2025. All of this highlights the need for long-term investment in resilient water systems. This is a lesson that successive Irish governments have been slow to heed.

To resolve this crisis, and the linked crisis of housing supply, a number of ‘solutions’ have been put forward. These include major reform of Uisce Éireann to improve responsiveness and a statutory forum for local councillors, as suggested by Deputy Ó Broin, to enhance democratic oversight.

Perhaps most pressing is the issue of leakage reduction, which simply must be accelerated through targeted investment in high-loss areas like Dublin.

Major projects like the Shannon pipeline and Greater Dublin Drainage must be fast-tracked. There have also been calls for Government to explore public-private partnerships to fund infrastructure upgrades. However, to ensure that public ownership is safeguarded, a constitutional referendum would be necessary to enshrine this.

The hosepipe bans and Uisce Éireann’s warnings are symptoms of a deeper failure to prioritise infrastructure. The Dáil debate in April showed evidence of clear and unusual cross-party consensus on the urgency of addressing this matter.