Liverpool water mains disruption 'major incident' as thousands cut off
- Published
The mains pipe burst in Church Road on Saturday
A burst water mains pipe which has left thousands of people without water has been declared a major incident.
The mains pipe burst in Church Road, Liverpool, on Saturday, leading to water tankers and free bottle stations being set up.
United Utilities said 30,000 properties were initially affected but 18,000 of them have been reconnected with the rest due back on by the end of the day.
Sefton Council said teams were also delivering water to vulnerable people.
Helen Apps, the firm's head of external affairs, said: "Not everybody has no water, some will have noticed reduced water pressure and that may come and go. So it's affecting different people in different ways."
The disruption has been categorised as a major incident
Engineers worked overnight to repair the 24-inch burst pipe, which Sefton Council described as "very complex" due to the size of the water main and other utility services in the area.
United Utilities incident manager Charmian Abbott said they needed to "extend the excavation" to replace a six-metre section of large water main.
"This has taken longer than expected in order to protect the safety of our team on site."
Ms Apps told the BBC News Channel: "It is an improving situation - we have now repaired the pipe so we are going to be gradually refilling that over the course of this evening."
She added the firm would "take care of compensation automatically because we're very sorry about what's happened".
"Householders won't have to write to us. Automatically we'll make sure that anyone who was without water for more than 12 hours will get a letter from us and they'll get information about the compensation they'll receive," she added.
Sefton Council said it was working with United Utilities to open more water bottle distribution centres in the meantime, including a current one at Netherton Activity Centre.
The disruption is due to a 24-inch burst pipe
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