Hundreds of residents in Stockport have travelled to bottled water stations across the borough after a power cut left parts of the town without water.
A power cut on Friday night (November 11) temporarily shut down a water treatment works in the borough, bosses at water company United Utilities said.
This meant some of those living 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.
READ MORE: Hundreds still without water as third bottled water station opened
As of 5.30pm on Saturday afternoon (November 12), running water had not returned to all the affected properties - prompting bosses to open three collection points for bottled water in Offerton and Hazel Grove.
One site on Offerton Road had worked it's way through one and a half articulated lorries full of water bottles by Saturday afternoon, with workers describing the stations as "manic."
Two residents who had walked from their home in Hazel Grove to the local Park and Ride to collect water said the outage had been 'a bit annoying,' especially with it being the weekend.
"Now's the time do things like washing as we leave busy lives during the week but we have no water," they said. We filled up the kettle with what we could this morning but that was it.
"We've been keeping up to date online but apart from a tiny bit this afternoon we've had no water since last night. We haven't been able to wash this morning and we've got a party tonight.
"There are lots of things like going for a run or going to the gym which we've not been able to do. You do take it for granted."
Another woman, from Hazel Grove said: "This is the second time I've been down for water today, it's a bit of a nightmare. I had to go to my daughter's to have a shower. We can't even flush the toilet. There are a lot of things you take for granted. I'm hoping it gets sorted soon."
At the site on Offerton Road, many residents were stopping off a the drive-thru water station for the second time in one day.
One resident said: "We've been without any water since 6pm last night. It's the second time coming here from Hazel Grove this weekend. Another said: "Our water went off last night just as we were running a bath. We've had to be out all day because of it but it's not been too bad."
A volunteer who had been manning the Park and Ride site all day said: "It was manic last night but we've got through it. Hundreds of cars have pulled up but most people are understanding."
It's understood the sites will remain open until around 10pm tonight and will reopen at 8am tomorrow morning if the area is still without water.
United Utilities said they were 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.'
In an update this afternoon, United Utilities said they were making "good progress" with getting more water flowing back into people's homes.
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.
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)
High Lane Park, off Windlehurst Road, High Lane, Stockport SK6 8AE
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