Water supplies are returning to customers in Cavan Town after a major leak on a water main at Billis Reservoir caused outages and reduced pressure on Wednesday evening.

Uisce Éireann crews successfully isolated the leak and completed repair works on Thursday morning. Reservoir levels are now recovering, with normal supplies expected to gradually return to affected homes and businesses throughout the afternoon.

The leak caused treated water levels at the reservoir to fall to critically low levels, resulting in supply disruptions for some customers across the town.

Night-time water restrictions will remain in place to help maintain daytime supplies. The restrictions will begin earlier than usual on Thursday evening, coming into effect from 8pm instead of the normal 11pm to allow reservoir levels additional time to recover.

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Uisce Éireann also transported water by tanker to the town’s reservoirs during the outage to help maintain supplies and ensured a continuous water supply was maintained for Cavan General Hospital.

Peter Gallagher of Uisce Éireann thanked customers affected by the disruption and renewed the company's appeal for people to conserve water.

"We understand the frustration that can be brought about by unplanned water outages, particularly in warm weather, and we wish to thank impacted customers for their understanding.

"Our crews were able to locate and repair the leak, and supply should now be returning to impacted homes and businesses in the town."

Uisce Éireann said it typically takes between two and three hours after repairs are completed for normal water supplies to be restored to all customers affected by an unplanned outage. However, customers located at the end of the network or on higher ground may experience longer delays while the system recharges.

"Demand remains at a very high level, which is placing severe strain on our supplies of treated water," continued Peter. "The ongoing nighttime restrictions are necessary to secure daytime supply. We are encouraging customers in Cavan Town to limit their water usage to essential purposes where possible."