Welsh Water: Handful of homes still without water on Christmas Eve

Welsh Water had supplied free drinking water to the thousands of homes that had lost water supply in the last week

A "handful" of homes in Wales are still without water supply on Christmas Eve following bad weather last weekend.

About 4,500 properties in Ceredigion lost their water supply on Saturday 17 December after supply pipes burst.

Welsh Water, which initially said it planned to restore all properties by Tuesday, said it has now done so for an "overwhelming majority" of homes.

The company said there are no large communities without supply, just a "handful of isolated properties".

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Welsh Water boss Peter Perry said: "Lessons have and will be learned from this incident, and once again please accept my sincerest apologies for the issues that you have encountered."

In a letter to customers, Mr Perry outlined the compensation available to households and businesses that went without water.

Households can receive £70 compensation for every day they were without their water supply. Businesses will also be able to claim for any losses incurred.

'Teams working round the clock'

The company set up bottled drinking water stations in place in some areas as a "precaution" and said staff would be working throughout the night to restore supply and monitor the network.

A Welsh Water spokesperson said: "We know that there are still a few local issues with intermittent or low pressure supplies and this is caused by 'air locks' in our network as it re-pressurises.

"Our teams are working round the clock to sort this as soon as possible but it needs to be done carefully to avoid the pipes bursting again."