Major water disruption continues across Flintshire
Thousands of homes and businesses across north Flintshire remain without water after a burst “strategic trunk main” in Broughton. Welsh Water says repairs will continue until at least Friday evening.
The fault is affecting supplies in Flint, Holywell, Ffynnongroyw, Greenfield, Llanerch y Mor, Mostyn, Oakenholt, Talacre, Whitford, Queensferry, Shotton, Connah’s Quay, Garden City, Hawarden, Mancot and Sandycroft.
Welsh Water chief executive Peter Perry said: “We’ve got a burst on a strategic trunk main that’s been incredibly difficult to repair, first of all in terms of safety of our workforce and secondly in terms of very, very difficult ground conditions. We repaired the mains once last weekend and unfortunately that repair didn’t hold. We didn’t want to shut the main off with a heatwave coming through so we tried to keep as many customers in supply so that we could carry out a full repair later this week. Unfortunately the initial repair has now failed and that means that supplies are now off to a large number of customers in north east Wales and I am very, very sorry for that.”
The emergency repair is complicated by the pipe’s location up to five metres underground and close to electric cables. Welsh Water has water tankers moving supplies around the network and bottled water stations at:
• Jade Jones Pavilion, Flint CH6 5ER
• Park & Ride Car Park, Deeside Industrial Park, CH5 2NY
• County Hall Car Park, Mold CH7 6NF
Bottled water deliveries to vulnerable customers will continue through the evening and into tomorrow. Those on the Priority Services Register who are unable to travel to collection points are being prioritised.
Household customers will receive £30 for every 12 hours without supply. Business customers will receive £75 for each 12-hour period and can also claim for loss of income once supplies are restored.
Council service impacts
Flintshire County Council says traffic congestion around bottled water collection points is causing delays to bin collections. Residents are asked to leave waste out if it is not collected on the usual day. Clinical waste collections will run one day late — Thursday collections will be made Friday, and Friday collections will be made Saturday.
The council says its Ewloe and Flint offices are open for access only and remain closed to the public. Connah’s Quay Connects is closed today, while Buckley and Holywell Connects are open from 10am.
Hospitals and health advice
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board says there has been no disruption to services at Deeside and Holywell community hospitals, with water tankers on site. Patients should attend appointments unless contacted otherwise.
Public Health Wales is urging residents affected by the burst water main to take steps to protect their health and wellbeing during the ongoing disruption.
People are advised to stay hydrated by drinking their usual amount of water, especially in the warm weather.
Hand hygiene remains important — wash hands with soap and water, or use alcohol hand gel, before preparing food, after using the toilet and after changing nappies.
For those feeding babies, bottled water supplied by Welsh Water is safe to use.
Do not use supermarket bottled water for baby formula as it may contain too much sodium.
Bottled water from Welsh Water should be boiled and allowed to cool before making up feeds.
Ready-made formula can also be used.
To help manage household needs, people can reuse water from cooking or washing up to flush toilets and consider safe alternative sources such as garden water butts.
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