THOUGH water supplies have been restored following last week's chaos in which burst pipes wreaked havoc in Bury, reservoir water levels are still dangerously low. North West Water says it is steadily getting under control the large numbers of bursts and leaks on the mains network.

But the unprecedented high demand for water recently has put a serious strain on already depleted reservoirs.

Peter Birtwistle, North West Water's general manager explained that levels in our largest reservoirs, Haweswater and Thirlmere, had begun to recover but levels are once again falling.

"At a time of year when we would normally expect winter rainfall to be replenishing our stocks, but we have had the driest December since 1933" he said.

He added that service reservoirs are filling slowly and the number of customers experiencing low pressure is dropping rapidly.

ZENTWISTLE reservoir has been so low for months that a bridge uncovered in the drought of last year is still visible and the floor of the reservoir is covered in vegetation. Water usually reaches the fringe of trees.

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