- Have YOU been left without water? E-mail shannon.mcguigan@mailonline.co.uk
Locals fear shops may run out of bottled water after a burst water pipe could leave 40,000 homes without water as well as five schools closed.
Yesterday, a burst water main at Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works left 8,000 homes without water across Conwy in north Wales.
The water firm confirmed that only Conwy county had been impacted, after previously stating homes in some Denbighshire towns had also lost water
Welsh Water confirmed an estimated 8,000 homes were without water on Wednesday with another 33,000 at risk of losing supplies as they raced to fix the issue.
Several schools and services have been shut due to the incident, including five schools, two libraries in Llanrwst and Conwy, as well as Bordreinallt surgery.
Crews from the water firm are currently at the site, with tankers mobilised in a bid to keep as many people on supply as possible, while water supplies are not expected to be restored until later this evening.
Conwy Valley local, Martin Edwards, 60, told MailOnline: ‘Bottled water could run out at the supermarkets.
‘People won’t just buy a few bottles they will buy more than what they need because they won’t be sure if the water will be on tomorrow morning.
‘The next thing you know, Aldi and Lidl will run out of water and there’s not a lot of other places to buy water in Llandudno.’
The north Walian also claimed they had not received any correspondence from Welsh Water regarding a bottled water collection – only two warning texts that the supply was impacted.
The company explained the repairs would be ‘difficult and dangerous’ due to the burst pipe being situated two-and-a-half meters beneath the river bed.
Welsh Water staff would have to create a dam-like structure in the Conwy Valley in an attempt to gain access to the damaged water pipe, the company told the BBC.
Have you been left without water? E-mail: shannon.mcguigan@mailonline.co.uk
Furious residents have since slammed the water firm on X, branding their service ‘absolutely appalling’.
‘More than 4 times in the last month without any water for more than 24 hours, including Christmas Day! With a young family this is NOT acceptable,’ the local said.
‘No offer of support, to provide bottled water, or offer of compensation.’
A second bemoaned the company wasn’t answering their phones, adding: ‘Some of us have no water and have been waiting in since 8am this morning for you to turn up!! Useless.’
Currently the areas of Trofarth, Pentrefelin, Rowen, Rhyd y foel, Tal y Bont Tal y Cafn, Tyn Groes, Pandy Tudur, parts of Llanrwst, Maenan, Llangernyw, have been impacted.
Galhaiarn, Llanfair, Llanddoged, Llanbedir y Cennin, Henryd, Gwytherin, Groesffordd, Eglwys Bach, Conwy and Dolgarrog are also understood be affected.
Customers of the water firm are understood to have been contacted via text message about the issue. Bottled water is also being delivered to the vulnerable in the area.
In an updated statement, a Welsh Water spokesperson said: ‘The repair to the burst water main at our Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog is taking longer than was planned.
‘The burst water main is two and half metres beneath the riverbed and the volume of water in the river is making the repair exceptionally difficult.
‘We have created a coffer dam to redirect the river and a trench box around the damaged pipe so that we can excavate and access the damaged water main whilst protecting our workforce and the environment.
‘Once the burst water main has been repaired it could take up to 48 hours before water supplies are fully restored as the network refills – but some customers will regain before then as water fills the network.
‘The Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works services one of the largest networks in Wales, supplying the Conwy Valley all the way to Llandudno and operates under very high pressure.
‘The network includes service reservoirs that store water and mains that deliver the water to the customers.
‘It will take time for the system to re-fill to a sufficient level to restore the supply to customers.
‘This process can’t be rushed as it could cause problems with water pressure, discolouration of water or further bursts.
‘We are prioritising delivering bottled water to vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register. This involves supporting 5,000 vulnerable customers in the affected areas.
‘We intend to have bottled water stations in place tomorrow, but as there is currently a shortage in the bulk supplies of bottled water across the UK and we are sourcing bottled water from as far as Scotland. We’re using current supplies to prioritise our vulnerable customers.
‘Compensation arrangements will be put in place to those customers who have lost their supplies together with additional arrangements for business customers.
‘We are doing all we can to restore supplies as soon as possible and we apologise for the inconvenience we have caused.’
