Tankers roll in as 6,000 without water

DRONE pictures show tankers pumping directly into the local supply after thousands of homes were left without water for nearly 24 hours following a pipe burst.

Around 6,000 properties including large parts of Accrington, Oswaldtwistle, Baxenden and Church – lost water at around 4am on Sunday, July 3 after the pipe burst on farmland off Blackburn Road.

Eight water-on-wheels tankers were placed at several ‘strategic locations’ to pump water directly into the local network. Drone pictures taken by Moin Zaib show the trucks parked on Willows Lane, near Higher Antley Street.

United Utilities said around 6,000 homes were affected with the water not being fully restored until 3am on Monday – 23 hours later.

They gave out around 36,000 free bottles of water from the Tesco Extra store in Accrington and Hyndburn Sports Centre throughout the day.

Observer readers affected by the pipe burst gave their reaction on our Facebook page.

Caroline Wells said: “Wish I’d known about them giving water out at sports centre. Well done on fixing problem but next time a bit more info needed on water points.”

Michael Crook said: “Something is better than nothing if you can get hold of it, but the consumption of 6,000 homes in 24 hours would be far greater than the 72,000 litres of water given out from three collection points.”

But Yolanda Cartaya Smith added: “Like anything else things can go wrong. Well done to the team for working hard to get the problem fixed. Glad to have water back. You don’t realise how much you rely on it until you can’t have it.”

United Utilities engineers arrived on site at around 6.25am and brought along specialist equipment, including a 20-tonne digger, to dig down 25ft – or seven metres – to access the 18-inch water main.

The firm said that water supplies were returned to normal by Monday morning and thanked customers for their patience.

A statement posted on the United Utilities website said: “Customers affected by the incident in Accrington will be sent compensation this week for the inconvenience faced.

“There is no need to contact us; this payment will be sent to you automatically.”

‘You don’t realise how much you rely on it until you can’t have it’

This drone picture taken by Moin Zaib (above) shows large water tankers on Willows Lane in Accrington, near Higher Antley Street, to provide emergency water to stricken families. Imy Hussain’s picture (left) shows people queuing for bottled water at...