Severn Trent apologises for loss of water supply in parts of Shropshire
Severn Trent has apologised after customers in Telford, Much Wenlock and Whitchurch were left without water overnight following supply issues.
The supply problems began at around 7pm on Tuesday when people started complaining of low water pressure before the taps eventually ran dry for many.
The issue was caused by air locks in the pipework system, it's the second time for some customers to have lost supply within 24hrs.
Severn Trent says that supplies were rerouted and water injected into the system to clear the issues with around 2,000 customers affected.
The problems are being blamed on increased demand for water during the hot weather. With the region basking in the hottest June for 40 years, Severn Trent has confirmed that, while it always expects to see an increase in demand for water, usage has been significantly more than normal.
A Severn Trent spokesperson said:
"We’re pleased to say that water supplies should now be returning to normal for customers across the Telford area.
"We’ve had teams of engineers out on the ground to clear air locks from the network to get water moving around our pipes and back into customer’s homes.
"Over the last few days we’ve seen a huge spike in demand for water which has resulted in airlocks in the system across the Telford area.
"We’ve been in contact with the local resilience forum throughout the morning and have worked together with them to deliver bottled water to our most vulnerable customers.
"We know how difficult it is to be without water, and we’d like to apologise again for the disruption that’s been caused."
Commenting on the supply issues Councillor David Turner from Much Wenlock said:
“For the second night running, many Much Wenlock households were without mains water. This would be a problem anytime, but more so in the current very warm weather. Although it seems that most properties have had their supply restored this morning, the frequency of communication and timeliness of responses from Severn Trent Water to their customers have been poor. This is something I want to pick up with Severn Trent as soon as this problem is resolved. We hoped lessons had been learned following the major burst last September when Much Wenlock was without water for several days.”
