Little or no water supply in March after burst to main pipe which supplies the town

THOUSANDS of homes in March have little or no water supply today after a pipe which feeds the town burst overnight.

A pipe which supplies the town from the Linwood Reservoir burst some time between 2-4am.

Anglian Water technicians have reversed the direction of the supply so it now comes from Friday Bridge. However, some residents will experience some discolouration in the water that an Anglian Water spokesman assured is completely harmless.

Spokesman Antony Innes said: “We’re sorry for customers in March and surrounding areas that have been affected by a burst 18in water main.

“Hundreds of customers in these areas have been experiencing lower than usual water pressure and some may have cloudy or discoloured water.

“To make sure people were kept supplied engineers reversed the flow of water through nearby pipes. This disturbed natural sediment in the pipes causing the discolouration. We appreciate that this looks unpleasant but can assure customers that it is harmless and poses no risk to health.

“The water should clear in time and engineers are doing what they can to speed up this process. Regrettably the cloudy colour is likely to remain in some areas until the burst main is fully repaired.

“This is a large main and is quite deep – some three-and-a-half metres – underground. Given this and the freezing weather, the repair may take some hours to complete. Again, we are working hard in what are difficult conditions to get work finished as quickly as we safely can.

“Once again we apologise for the inconvenience and disruption this will cause.”