‘Strategic Water Main Burst’ Causes Disruption for 12,000 People

Burst on strategic water main causes disruption to Chester customers.

UPDATE 10pm: With supplies working if not cloudy, work is ongoing with an expected fix time of 2-4am. The latest update reads: “During the course of the repair, it was established that there were two high voltage cables running in close proximity to the water main. Scottish Power were called to site and advised that an assessment of the area was required prior to any repair to the water main being completed.

“Following an assessment by ScottishPower regarding the high voltage cables within close proximity of our water main, we are now able to resume the repair of the mains burst. The timescale for repair is 4-6 hours.”

UPDATE 2pm: Dee Valley Water say:” Following re-zoning of the Chester area, water supplies should now have been restored to all affected customers although until our network has completely recovered, some customers may still experience poor pressure. The main feed is under repair and should be back in service by the peak period.

“Once the main feed is restored customers may experience some discolouration or air (milky appearance) in the supply. To help alleviate the discolouration, we will flush out the network and ask that customers run their kitchen cold water tap to assist.”

UPDATE 1pm: Dee Valley Water say: “Our Network Construction team are currently carrying out a repair on the strategic mains burst in Handbridge. The estimated repair timescale for this is 4-6 hours. As part of our re-zoning of the water supplies in affected areas, Chester Business Park and Westminster Park have had their water supplies restored although the latter will have some poor pressure. The re-zoning of Chester City may take up to 2 hours to restore.”

UPDATE: No timeframe for fix as of yet, however some supplies are coming back at lower pressure. Supplies to the south of the city are back, however some murky/dirty water will require taps being run.

In the early hours of Monday 13 June 2016 a large diameter strategic main burst on The Meadows in Handbridge, Chester. As a consequence potentially up to 12,000 customers could be affected by a disruption to their water supply.

Engineers have been deployed to the area to investigate and isolate the main in preparation for repair. The water supply has been re-zoned from another area to ensure that supplies to customers affected are temporarily restored until the repair has been completed. However, Dee Valley Water is are aware that some customers are without their water supply and would like to reassure customers that all available resources have been utilised to try and restore supplies back to normal as quickly as possible. Currently, there is no estimated time for the restoration of the water supply but regular updates will be provided via both the telephone and website with the next update at 10am.

Immediate text notifications were sent to affected customers opting in to receive alerts and information messages have been placed on our telephone system and web site providing the relevant information. This will be ongoing until water supplies have been returned to normal.

We would advise affected customers that post repair they may experience some discolouration to their water supply. Although unsightly, the discolouration poses no risk to human health and the water supply remains chlorinated. Should any customers experience discolouration please run your kitchen cold water tap for 15-20 minutes to clear the supply. Please refrain from using any water appliances whilst the water remains discoloured. We will carry out intense flushing of the mains to help remove this discolouration.

Any affected customers who require further advice regarding their water supply can contact our 24 hour Control Room on 01978 846946.

CEO, Ian Plenderleith said “I apologise to our customers in the affected areas for any inconvenience caused by this incident and thank them for their co-operation and patience whilst we make every effort to restore water supplies to normal as quickly as possible.”