Preston homes left without water and poor pressure due to leak

Tap water is not safe to drink Pic: Olly Clarke — There’s a lack of water at many homes Pic: Olly Clarke

Households in Preston have awoken to a lack of water on Friday morning.

United Utilities have identified a leak in Cumeragh Lane, Whittingham, as the source of the issue.

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@unitedutilities yes! Wondered why my shower was just a trickle of water this morning. What's the problem? @blogpreston

— Ali Gudgeon ✍?️ (@Libra_Comms) March 10, 2017

A statement from the firm at 8.45am saia: “A leak on Cumeragh Lane affecting customers in PR2/PR3, has been spotted and reported to us. Our inspector has been to have a look and found this to be the cause for some of you having no water or just a trickle.

“A team of engineers has been requested to attend and should be on site as soon as possible. We’re sorry for the trouble this may be causing you and we will get your taps flowing normally again as quickly as we can.”

It is understood a number of schools and nurseries have closed for the day because of the issue, Sherwood Primary School, St Clare’s Catholic Primary School and Newlands Nursery have closed.

A spokeswoman for United Utilities said shortly before 10am on Friday: “We have had a burst to an 18-inch pipe which happened early this morning.

“There’s been around 150 calls from customers so far this morning since 5am.

“Our priority is fixing the pipe and in the meantime we’re looking at whether we can reconfigure part of the network to bring supplies back faster to those affected.

“We won’t know the extent of the issue until the engineers have dug down and inspected the damage to the pipe.”

United Utilities said shortly before 11am it had reconfigured part of the network and some households would see water supply returning to normal at lunchtime, however fixing the pipe is expected to take until the afternoon on Friday.