A WATER company has been criticised after a street was flooded for the second time in 12 months.

Cllr Roy Davies, the Mayor of Darwen Town Council, has said that questions should be put to United Utilities after a water main burst on Greenway Street, Darwen yesterday shortly after 1pm.

Some houses were left without water on Greenway Street, and neighbouring Snape Street, and areas of the pavements were covered in water.

It was repaired within two hours, but Cllr Davies said: "No matter what the damage has been it will the people who pay the water rates that end up paying the heaviest price. More needs to be done to prevent this happening again.

"We have adverts on the TV saving we need to save water and that we're on the verge of a house pipe ban yet how many thousands and thousands of gallons of water have been wasted because of burst water mains that have not been properly repaired - like this one."

A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “Our engineers were on the scene quickly and managed to isolate the burst pipe soon after 2.30pm.  We use pressure management valves to reduce the risk of pipes bursting and we are always looking for other new ideas. 

"We are presently working with a new technology firm on trials of an ‘intelligent’ pipe coating, to better understand why pipes burst and how this could be predicted and prevented in future.”