Residents in an East Lancashire village have been without water following a leak.
United Utilities went to visit the initial leak in Metcalf Drive, in Simonstone, before identifying a secondary leak on Whalley Road, with both incidents causing issues with supplies in the area.
Reform councillor for Ribble Valley North East, Ged Mirfin, raised the issue on social media and said residents in Clough Lane, Wood Terrace and School Lane have been without water for the last three days.
Cllr Mirfin said: “There are a number of infirm and elderly residents who live in these locations, and although unaffected residents are helping them out with water so they can drink, wash and flush their toilets, I have asked the Emergency Response Team to revisit these locations.”
The United Utilities website says that they are currently on the scene, but it says the teams still have work to do to get things back to normal.
This work could take as long as 16 hours to complete, according to Cllr Mirfin.
Additionally, water tankers have been deployed in the area to help deal with the lack of water supply, and bottles have been provided bottle water.
He added: “For residents to be without water for three days is unacceptable and I have asked for a meeting with the Chief Exec to complain about United Utilities handling of the burst water main and a copy of the incident report to understand what happened.
“Getting through to speak to an operative is also proving difficult for residents and it appears United Utilities Call Centre is inadequately staffed during the weekend.”
However, United Utilities have said that the longest period that residents were without water was 27 hours and all received bottle water during this time.
READ MORE: Water company to invest £380million to upgrade pipes - including 30km in Lancashire
READ MORE: Warning as water levels in reservoirs drop after driest start to spring since 1956
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “On Thursday 8 May, we received reports of low water pressure or no water on Metcalf Drive, Burnley. Engineers arrived to investigate the issue, isolating the burst and starting the repair.
"To ensure customers continued to have a flow of water through their taps, we deployed our water tankers to the area to pump water back into the network. Twenty properties received bottled water from United Utilities.
“On Friday 9 May, a second burst occurred on Whalley Road, and the team quickly isolated the burst and fixed the problem within seven hours.
"Water tankers were also deployed to Whalley Road to pump water into the network and keep customers’ taps flowing. Residents on our Priority Services Register also received bottled water.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate the patience of those customers while we worked to fix the bursts.”
Share