Hundreds still without water as third bottled water…

Hundreds still without water as third bottled water station opened

A third bottled water station has been opened in Stockport with hundreds of residents still said to be without water. A power cut on Friday night temporarily shut down a water treatment works in the borough, bosses at water company United Utilities said.

This meant some of those liviing in central Stockport, Bredbury, Cheadle, Romiley, Bramhall, Woodford and Hazel Grove were left with no water running from their household taps or extremely low pressure meaning water was just dribbling out.

Two c ollection points for households to pick up free bottled water were set up in Hazel Grove and High Lane. And a third station has been opened in Offerton this morning with scores still reporting having no water or poor pressure more than 18 hours after the issue first arose.

United Utilities said they are currently unable to put a timescale on when the issue will be fully resolved and all resident's supplies returned to normal, though they said engineers had worked through the night and that they are' working hard to get supplies back to normal as soon as possible.'

They said the treatment works is now back up and running and that it was an improving picture with more and more homes' supplies being restored throughout the day.

Hundreds of residents have been left without water or with low pressure (Greater Manchester Business Week)

However angry residents took to social media to vent their frustration at the situation. Emma said on Twitter: "18 hours without water across half of Stockport, and no word on when it’s coming back on. Pathetic."

Rachel Donnelly asked the company on Twitter: "...no water since early evening yesterday. 3 water stations doesn’t really cut it. What are you doing for the vulnerable and those without transport - and when will it be restored?

United Utilities said water was being delivered to care homes and vulnerable customers registered with them. However, there were complaints about people having not received any, about the locations of the current bottled water collection points and of local shops running out as a result.

Jane Pullen said: "Why can’t you tell us how long the water will be off for? Nearly 18 hours so far. Vulnerable people being left without water in 2022, totally unacceptable. We need more water stations asap, local shops are running out as they’re not prepared for the rise in demand. Come on UU."

Phil Sweeney, United Utilities Incident Manager said: “Our engineers are making excellent progress on fixing the technical issue at our treatment works, which arose after a power cut in the area.

“The treatment plant is back up and running, and the water we are supplying to customers’ taps can be used as normal. While we are getting the plant back up to full speed some customers may find their taps are running slow or they have no water, and we apologise for this disruption.

“We will take further bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services register and care homes today, and our bottled water stations will be open again for customers to collect bottled water for free.

“We thank everyone for their patience and would like to reassure customers that we are working hard to get supplies back to normal as soon as possible, and we expect the situation to improve throughout today.

"Updates will be posted on our website at www.unitedutilities.com."

Current bottled water collection points

The layby off Offerton Road SK2 5HL.

Hazel Grove Park & Ride, Macclesfield Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 6BF (please use the Dunkeld Road entrance)