Have you been affected yet?

32,000 homes, businesses and farms around the country have been left with no water as Storm Emma took a hold of the country this week. To further that, 3,500 boil water notices have also been issued, as mechanical faults have affected treatment plants around the entire country. Eamon Gallen of Irish Water spoke on Today with Daithi and Maura and said that Irish Water is appealing to people to stop running taps and conserve water by not using dishwashers or washing machines.

Eamon Gallen on @RTEToday: "Approximately 32,000 people with either no water or intermittent supply...We are mobilising to repair leaks and bursts and are appealing to customers to conserve water as much as possible #StormEmma

— Irish Water (@IrishWater) March 3, 2018

"Across the country - Meath, Louth, the Midlands, Cork and Dublin in particular our reservoirs are running down low creating restrictions. This is caused by unusually high demands on the network, leaks and bursts of pipes, and continually running taps and hoarding up water - filling baths etc. "We will deal with the leaks and bursts as soon as it becomes safe to mobilise crews - and they're all ready to work all weekend to restore supply as fast as possible.

Once supply is restored after a disruption it can take some time for full supply to reach all parts of the affected network. See https://t.co/FBAh6c1Da7 for some advice #StormEmma #IrishWater

— Irish Water (@IrishWater) March 3, 2018

"But we would appeal to customers to please stop running taps continuously and not unnecessarily hold water and reduce the usage of dishwashers and washing machines where possible." That number is likely to go up and down; in order to refill the reservoirs Irish Water will have cut-off or reduce supply throughout the day; people will see their water will be cut off for periods of time as Irish Water gets things back to normal and as the reservoirs fill up - this is likely to run into early next week. "Power outages are always a big issue for us because our plants rely on power to run; three plants in Ireland are currently running on generators," he said.