All ready to start pumping water to Gloucester
Posted: Monday 30th July 2007
Good progress is being made now that water from the restored Mythe water treatment works has started flowing to taps in Tewkesbury and the surrounding area. Severn Trent engineers have been monitoring its pipe network carefully over night and are now making final preparations for the next phase, which should see water filtering into Gloucester.
Andy Smith, Severn Trent’s director of water services, explained: “This does not mean that everyone in Gloucester will get water today. This is a controlled process to refill more than a thousand miles of empty water pipes and we must emphasise that it may take several days for supplies to filter through to 60,000 homes in Gloucester.
"We cannot give exact timescales for how long this process will take as it is heavily dependant on demand levels. We are expecting high demand because, understandably, people who have been without water for more than a week will be eager to make use of a reconnected mains supply. We are still aiming to begin pumping water to Cheltenham and the areas nearby from Tuesday.
“So although water is on the way, a full recovery is still several days away and we must remind customers that when water is restored, it must not be used for drinking, even after boiling. It’s perfectly safe to use for showering, bathing, flushing toilets and washing clothes,” added Andy.
In the meantime, the operation to provide emergency drinking water from bowsers and bottled water will continue and anyone getting their water back on should make use of these supplies for drinking purposes. There are now around 1,000 bowsers located around the affected area and 5 million litres of bottled water available on a daily basis.
Pumping will begin in the following areas on Monday 30th July 2007:
Quedgeley, Bishop’s Cleeve, Prestbury, Gloucester, Churchdown, Eastern Ave, Longlevens, Treadworth, Abbeymead, Abbeydale, Barnwood, Tuffley, Podsmead and Sandhurst.
