Irish Water have reminded Cork customers of simple steps they can take to protect pipes from freezing and bursting amid the cold snap.
It comes after a second Orange weather warning was issued for Cork, due to last until this Friday.
The sub-zero temperatures in recent days have increased the number of frozen water pipes and bursts. Irish Water crews are working with Local Authorities nationwide to maintain essential water and wastewater services.
However, they are encouraging customers to check outside pipes that may be prone to freezing or bursting, and to turn off water supply for them if possible.
Alternatively, consider setting the heating to come on periodically at a lower temperature to prevent freezing.
They have also appealed for people not to leave taps running as this will not necessarily prevent pipes from freezing and can impact on your local water supply.
Niall O’Riordan, Operations Lead with Irish Water offered this advice:
“With the temperatures dipping below minus five degrees this week it is really important to continue the regular maintenance of your property, protect outside taps and farm troughs, and check empty premises. It also a good idea to familiarise yourself with your own internal water system and particularly how to turn off your supply at the stopcock so that you can protect your property in the event of a burst pipe.
“We also are appealing to the public not to run taps continually as this is not an effective way of preventing frozen pipes and can cause other problems such as frozen drains. It also puts further pressure on water supplies that are already challenged by the freezing conditions. For example this year there was an instance where a single hosepipe left running overnight resulted in 60 people being without water.
