RESIDENTS who were left without water because of a mains burst will be able to claim compensation.

United Utilities said that all homes that had been affected are now back to normal.

Hundreds of homes had been without water due to repairs to a 36-inch diameter pipe which burst in Martholme Grange, Altham, at 11pm on Tuesday.

Up to 600 homes and businesses in Accrington, Oswaldtwistle, Clayton-le-Moors and Blackburn were left with no supply or low pressure for two days.

A spokesperson from United Utilities said: "Residents who were without water for a considerable period as a result of the recent water burst in Hyndburn will receive compensation from United Utilities.

"We will be writing to those customers in the coming days.

"We have yet to finalise the amount of compensation, but will be making this decision soon."

According to the water giant’s website customers can expect to receive pay-outs after 12 hours without water.

The firm promises to pay £25 plus another £10 for every additional 12 hour period that a customer is left without water.

During the incident, water bowsers were deployed four in locations across the affected area, and more than 20,000 bottles of water given out.

Mobile water tankers were also used to pump water directly into the mains.

The problem was solved when an alternative decommissioned water main was brought back into service to feed water into the area.

Repairs will continue on the burst main this weekend.

Scott Beard, United Utilities water network manager, said: "We're very glad that families are now able to use their water as usual.

“It has been a very frustrating couple of days for households who have been disrupted, and we'd like to thank people for bearing with us.

"We know that many residents were helping each other out, and looking after their more vulnerable neighbours.

"This was a complicated engineering task, requiring our teams to work around the clock to get the supply issue resolved."