Burst water pipe closes school and hits many homes

A school building in front of a car park. Words written on the road say buses only, and an arrow points  for the direction of traffic.Image source, Google
Image caption,

Royal Wooton Bassett Academy has been closed for the day

  • Published

A burst water pipe that led to a Wiltshire school being closed and left hundreds of homes without water or with low water pressure has been fixed.

Thames Water said the issue had affected people in the SN4, SN5 and SN15 postcodes around Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon on Wednesday.

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy closed "for the day" as the burst pipe was affecting its water pressure and tanks the school used for emptying.

In an afternoon update, Thames Water said water supply had been restored and expected "everything to fully stabilise" by 18:00 BST.

Earlier, it said workers had "controlled the flow of water" from the burst pipe by 09:45 BST and a specialist repair team had attended the site.

In an update, it added: "Although the repair itself is still ongoing - and is a bit complex due to its location - we've been able to safely isolate the damaged section of pipe.

"This means our teams can continue the repair without any further impact to your water supply.

"Some customers may still notice lower pressure or air in their pipes. This is completely normal and just a result of water levels rising back to normal in our network."

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