Wirral water supplies update: Saturday, May 22 (9am)

22 May 2010

Approximately 1,900 customers across the Wallasey Village area of Wirral are currently experiencing intermittent water supplies.

This has been caused by a fault on a valve which is required to maintain water pressure on the network.

The fault developed last night as the recently repaired 21" main on Reeds Lane was being charged up to be brought back into use.

Scott Beard, United Utilities' Regional Water Network Manager, said: "Firstly we would like to apologise sincerely for the ongoing inconvenience some customers in Wirral have been experiencing.

"Whilst the main in Reeds Lane is now repaired and the vast majority of customers originally affected by this incident now have water supplies, we are aware that customers in the Wallasey Village area will be experiencing problems.

"The valve we need to repair requires a specialist fix, which will be carried out as quickly as possible over the course of today.

"This is a highly complex job and we are expecting it will take at least 24 hours to repair.

"Once these repairs are completed we can use the valve to restore water pressure and bring all affected customers back on supply.

"As a priority we are making arrangements for bottled water to be provided to our vulnerable customers - as well as providing alternative supplies to others affected whilst repairs are ongoing.

"All customers affected by this incident will be contacted directly by United Utilities to arrange compensation payments and they do not need to call us."

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