Homes in Wales are still left without water after dramatic changes in temperature caused a mass outbreak of burst pipes. Residents in one village in Carmarthenshire claim the county had been left without a water supply station for two days.
On Monday night, Dwr Cymru said around 4,000 homes were experiencing intermittent or loss of water supply. Nine schools were closed in Ceredigion on Tuesday, December 20, due to the issue. The water company said they had 500 people working on the issue and water supply has now returned to many areas in the county.
However, villages and towns in Carmarthenshire and Herefordshire are still without water, just days before Christmas. David Hudson, from Llansaint, first noticed the water was off on Sunday, December 18, after trying to boil the kettle. Over 48 hours later they claimed that they still had not heard from Dwr Cymru about when the supply would be back in Caramarthenshire or where they could access bottled water, as Ceredigion already had two pick up points allocated.
READ MORE: 900 properties still without water as west Wales shortage continues
The 53-year-old said: "We live in a village where a large percentage is elderly, have small children and a neighbor on dialysis - they should be given priority. A local counsellor from Kidwelly had kindly brought water up to the village - that he bought out of his own money - but his small supply was taken up quickly, leaving others to depend on neighbours."
David explained that most of the elderly residents don't drive or have social media, so the village came together to ensure "that no one was left out" and all are taken care of and have enough bottled water. David claimed that they had been left in the dark for two days and had no direction on what is happening from Carmarthenshire council or Dwr Cymru. Due to this, they feel let down by both parties as they feel they've been left to fend for themselves.
Dwr Cymru have stated that they are currently working to restore supplies in Kidwelly and have situated a water station today at Coach and Car Park, Kidwelly, SA17 5BJ. Percy Emmett, 59, who is chairman of the village hall has said the response from Dwr Cymru and Carmarthenshire council "has been appaling". He added: "We are an elderly village, many with severe medical needs. Welsh Water should be doing more for our village and the area - it's dreadful. Ceredigion reacted really quickly with water supplies and stations."
A spokesperson for Dwr Cymru said: "We are aware of supply issues which have affected customers in the Kidwelly area over the past few days and are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. The water supply issues in Kidwelly are linked to the wider issues we have experienced in west Wales over the past few days due to sudden change in temperature which has caused frozen pipes to burst. We have made good progress in returning supplies but some customers may experience intermittent supplies due to air in our water network. We’re working to release these ‘air locks’ but we also have bottled water located at the Coach and Car Park, Kidwelly, SA17 5BJ.
"Customers who have been impacted should have received a text but we would again like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their continued patience."
Areas in Herefordshire have also been without water since Monday. In response, a spokesperson for Dwr Cymru said: "We apologise to any of our customers in the Hereford area who have lost supply over the past few days. Our teams have been working hard to restore water to the main strategic parts of the system and good progress has been made here. While this has ensured supplies have returned to the majority of customers affected, we are aware of pockets of areas where customers either have no water or low water pressure. We are expecting these remaining supplies to return to normal as we move into the evening. We have delivered bottled water to our most vulnerable customers and also delivered bottled water to those served by our Dorstone reservoir and Welsh Newton reservoir who we know have been without water for some time.
“We will continue work in the area resolving the remaining issues and continue to use our fleet of water tankers to put water directly into the system. Customers can also help by checking any taps not being used are turned off and if they do have a water supply then only use the water they need. Also for agricultural customers to check there aren’t any leaks on their external pipes. This will all help the system to refill. We would again like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their continued patience”.
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