Shropshire homes without water as heatwave continues

More than 2,000 homes in Shropshire were again without water today as the county faced its second day of difficulties in the heatwave.

Water supplies are now returning to normal, but one school was forced to close and hundreds of homes were affected as a major spike in demand caused problems across Severn Trent's network.

The water company was this afternoon handing out bottled water in Telford to people left without water.

Severn Trent said airlocks caused by the increased demand during the hot weather were to blame for the shortages, which caused problems in Telford, Whitchurch, Much Wenlock and parts of neighbouring Staffordshire.

Problems for most people started at around 8.30pm last night, although some people in Telford had been without water since a separate problem at a reservoir disrupted supply on Monday.

Water was back flowing in Much Wenlock yesterday evening and in Whitchurch by around 11am today, Severn Trent said.

In Telford supplies started returning to normal at 1pm, although pressure remained low for some customers.

Bottled water was delivered to the most vulnerable people affected and later distributed for free at Tesco in Madeley, but many residents took to Twitter to complain about their lack of supply and Severn Trent's level of communication.

Apology

At 1pm a Severn Trent spokesman 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."

It's the company's second apology to residents in Telford in the space of three days after faulty equipment at a reservoir disrupted supplies in Dawley, Malineslee, The Rock and Overdale on Monday.

Scores of homes and businesses were without water for several hours while others were left with low pressure and cloudy water.

Among those affected was McDonald's, which was forced to close its Telford Forge restaurant from 8pm until midnight.

No water for two days

Robert Harris, who has lived at the Rock in Telford for 11 years, said he had no water for two days and when the supply finally restarted on Wednesday the pressure was still low.

Mr Harris, 57, said: "We had this problem about three years ago too when the weather was hot. It seems to be an infrastructure problem.

"I'm all for building new houses in Telford but you need the infrastructure to deal with all the new residents which it doesn't seem to have.

"Telford is growing at a rapid pace and this is going to be a problem in the future.

"My concern is that in years to come when you get more hot spells this is going to happen more and more."

Meanwhile staff at the Whitchurch Community Hospital said the hospital itself wasn't affected, but a number of workers had low water pressure at their homes in the town.

No choice but to close

In Dawley, Ladygrove Primary School was closed throughout Wednesday after headteacher Jo Weichlbauer was left with 'no choice'.

"We have no water and that has a big impact on children and on the parents too," Mrs Weichlbauer added.

"I appreciate parents now have to find alternative childcare which is difficult.

"We are updating parents and as soon as we know the water is back on we will let them know.

"The last thing we want to do is close the school."

Heatwave holds

High temperatures are set to continue for the rest of the week, with a possible high of 33C (91.4F) on Thursday.

The mercury soared to 30.7C (87.2F) in Rostherne in Cheshire on Tuesday, beating Monday’s high of 30.1C (86.1F) in London, the Met Office said.

The Met Office’s heat-health watch alert is currently at level two, meaning social and healthcare services are at the ready to reduce harm from a potential heatwave.

The fine, hot weather looks set to continue into next month, according to meteorologist Alex Burkill.

“At the moment it looks like that will be the general theme through much of July,” he said.

“Generally it looks like it will stay drier and warmer than average.”