Update — 24 August 2026: The hosepipe ban was due to end on 26 August. Uisce Éireann has now extended it in Wicklow until 11.59pm on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Nothing changes for us in the meantime — the same restrictions simply continue for another five weeks. The original notice from July follows below.
Uisce Éireann announced on Monday 24 August that the water conservation order will stay in place in Wicklow — along with Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford — from 11.59pm on Wednesday 26 August right through to 11.59pm on Wednesday 30 September 2026.
The ban does end on 26 August in the other thirteen counties (Cavan, Clare, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath), so you may well see headlines saying the hosepipe ban is over. It isn't over here.
Why it's been extended
Public conservation efforts over the summer have taken the pressure off supplies in much of the country, but not in the east and south. Margaret Attridge, Uisce Éireann's head of water operations, said supplies in parts of the east and south remain under pressure and that water sources in these areas will need more time to recover.
For scale: running a garden hose for one hour uses more water than an average family gets through in an entire day.
What's still restricted
The restrictions are unchanged from July. Using a hosepipe or similar apparatus for any of the following is prohibited:
- Watering a garden
- Cleaning a private motor vehicle
- Cleaning a private leisure boat
- Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool — filling from a hand-held container filled directly from a tap is still allowed
- Filling or maintaining a domestic pond (fish ponds excepted)
- Filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain, other than for commercial purposes
- Filling or replenishing an artificial pond, lake or similar
Breaching a water conservation order is an offence, carrying a fine of up to €5,000. In practice Uisce Éireann's approach has been to ask rather than prosecute — but the order is a legal instrument, not a request.
What this means for you
- Don't put the hose away just yet. If you were counting on 26 August, that date no longer applies in Wicklow. Plan on the end of September.
- Watering cans and buckets are fine — the order restricts hosepipes and similar apparatus, not water itself. New planting and anything in pots can still be kept alive by hand.
- Water butts are worth having. If the last two summers are any guide, this is likely to come round again, and rainwater off a roof isn't covered by any restriction.
- Rainwater and grey water for the car. A bucket of water and a sponge is permitted; the hose is not.
The original notice — 15 July 2026
A water conservation order took effect for our supply from 16 July 2026, originally due to run to 26 August 2026. It was introduced because of low reservoir levels following a long stretch of little rain combined with high water usage, and it prohibited the same list of hosepipe uses set out above.
Sources: Uisce Éireann Water Conservation Hub and RTÉ News, 24 August 2026. Details can change — check the official notice for the latest, including the interactive map of affected supplies on water.ie.