Welsh Water apologises as hundreds in Monmouthshire still without access to water

Welsh Water has issued an apology to customers over its failure to secure water supply to its customers over the festive period, with many still unable to access the vital resource.

Posting an update to its website on Monday afternoon, the company, which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to most of Wales, said an estimated 200 properties in Monmouthshire were still without water.

Water supply issues in the southeast of Wales come after thousands of homes in the west of the country were left without water in the days leading up to Christmas.

Welsh Water said its teams were “working hard” to restore supplies in the Trellech and Llandogo areas of Monmouthshire following a burst main, which it said was repaired on Christmas Eve.

It estimated the rupture could still be impacting some 200 properties – either left with intermittent supply, low pressure, or no water whatsoever.

The stalled supply recovery has been blamed on the network refilling slowly and “some significant challenges with air blocks which sometimes happen when the system refills.”

“Our teams have not stopped working to restore supplies throughout the Christmas period since the burst occurred,” its Boxing Day update reads.

“We are very sorry to all the customers who have been impacted and very grateful to all our employees who have worked tirelessly through Christmas to restore customers’ supplies in very challenging circumstances.”

Welsh Water claimed more customers would have their supplies restored as the day goes on, and said it was “hopeful” that the remaining issues would be resolved on Monday evening.

“Whilst these issues are ongoing, we have a bottled water station situated at Premier Inn, Portal Rd, Monmouth NP25 5FP,” it said.

It comes after some 4,500 properties in Ceredigion lost access to their water supply for several days after supply pipes burst on 17 December amid the sub-zero temperatures.

Elsewhere, an estimated 5,000 houses in west Scotland were left without water on Christmas Day as a result of an “operational issue” at Picketlaw Water Treatment Works.

Upwards of 40,000 properties in Kent, Sussex, Hertforshire and Essex were also estimated to have lost access to water at the start of the week after temperatures across the country plummeted then shot up rapidly in the run up to Christmas.