Peter Perry, Chief Executive at Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has apologised to customers for the current water supply disruption in Flintshire, describing it as “both challenging and frustrating.”

Writing in an open letter published on the company’s website yesterday, he said:

“The current disruption to water supplies to our customers in Flintshire is both challenging and frustrating. We’re extremely sorry and appreciate the inconvenience and concern that this has caused, especially to those customers who had issues with their water supply the previous weekend.

Following a burst on the main drinking water pipe that feeds north Flintshire in Broughton on Saturday 9th August, a Welsh Water team carried out a temporary repair in order to restore water supplies as quickly as possible. This allowed it to refill the network with the aim of providing enough storage time to go back and complete the permanent repair without any impact on supplies.

The letter says:

“We were also mindful of the approaching heatwave and were doing all we could to keep our system storage of treated water as high as possible to meet increased demand.

“Unfortunately, the temporary repair didn’t hold long enough for the system to fully replenish. This meant that we had to start an emergency repair last night. It’s challenging as the burst pipe is 5 metres underground with difficult ground conditions and close to electric cables which requires extra care.

“Our teams are working tirelessly to carry out the repair safely and as soon as they can so that supplies can be restored to homes and businesses in the area. We also have a fleet of tankers moving water around the network in the area to minimise disruption to as many customers as possible.”

Welsh Water is delivering bottled water to its most vulnerable customers and maintaining supplies to two hospitals and 20 care homes and has also set up several bottled water stations collection points,

The company does not anticipate that water supplies will begin returning to normal until late Friday evening.

Welsh Water will automatically pay compensation into customers’ bank accounts (where the company has their details or by cheque if not).

Household customers will receive £30 for every 12 hours they have been off supply. Business customers will get an automatic payment of £75 for every 12 hours and will also be able to claim for any loss of income.

Peter Perry concludes by saying:

“We will conduct a full review of the incident and all aspects of our response. I would like to thank all those who have supported us, including local residents, customers, businesses, and the volunteers who have helped during this incident. I would like to thank you for your understanding and please accept my sincerest apologies for the disruption that has been caused.”