Telford pipe burst: Residents without water for over 15 hours offered £30 compensation
Residents in Telford who were left without water for over 15 hours this week are being offered £30 compensation by Severn Trent Water.
The company says payment of £30, which is roughly the same as having a month free on the average combined water and waste bill, will be deducted automatically so customers don’t need to do anything.
Severn Trent Water has been working round the clock since Sunday morning after thousands of homes and businesses were affected by the burst, which left much of the Telford area south of the M54 with either no water, low pressure or a murky supply.
Since Sunday they have been handing out bottles water to residents at various locations across the area.
Sarah Bentley, Chief Customer Officer at Severn Trent, said: “I’m so sorry and want to apologise to everyone affected by the burst pipe and also to thank everyone for their patience while we got water supplies back to normal.
“During the last three days we’ve had huge support from local people, businesses, councillors and the emergency services as we worked hard to get the water back on for everyone, and there’s been a fantastic community spirit around the area.
“Whether it was food delivered to our engineers who were working on the repair from local cafes and takeaways or volunteers coming forward to help at our collection points – your support has been absolutely amazing and we can’t thank you enough.
“We will be compensating the people and families who were without water for 15 hours or more with a deduction from their bill and, once again, we’d like to say how sorry we are for the inconvenience that’s been caused this week.”
Residents were warned there may still be some murky water, or water smelling and tasting of chlorine after repairs were made to the huge pipe which burst in the town.
The repairs were tricky as the 21-inch pipe is very deep underground and, before we could start to dig, we had to cut back nearby trees and are now removing an 18ft section of pipe and replacing it.
Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies has thanked the community in Telford for their patience and resilience in dealing with the loss of water supply.
