Engineers repair burst main after 12,000 homes left without water in Inverclyde

Scottish Water says it has now repaired a burst main in Greenock, which left 12 thousand homes without supply in parts of Inverclyde.

But engineers say it may take some time before full pressure is restored to affected customers in the town, as well as in Wemyss Bay and Gourock - because of the size of the main.

A Scottish Water spokesperson says:

"Scottish Water is now restoring normal water supplies to all affected properties following a burst water main in Greenock yesterday."

"Some properties in parts of the PA15, PA16 Greenock postcode area, PA17 in Skelmorlie, PA18 in Wemyss Bay and PA19 in Gourock experienced a loss of their normal water supply or low pressure as a result of a burst on a strategic 18 inch water main near Whinhill Primary School in Greenock."

""We estimate that about 12,000 properties across these areas were affected by the disruption to normal supply."

Our operatives carried out valve operations which restored water supplies to about 3,000 of those properties in parts of Greenock last night and we completed repairs to the burst in the town in the early hours of this morning.

"The completion of that repair, combined with the valve operations and the tankering of water into different locations on the network, enabled us to start restoring normal supplies to most affected properties from the early hours of this morning. This took longer than we expected due to some complexities on-site."

"We are now continuing with the recharging of the system and restoration of the water network to its normal set-up. However, due to the size of water main, this might take some time before full pressures are restored to all customers."

"To support with this process we will continue to tanker water into the network and assist customers where required until we have fully restored water supplies."

"A small number of customers are still reporting that they have no water supply yet, which is expected as the system is recharging and we will be providing direct support to these customers who contact us and require support until the system fully recovers and their water is also restored."

"Some properties will have had their water restored before others depending on their location on our network and factors such as the elevation of their property."

"As supplies begin to restore some customers may experience discoloured water, which often happens following a burst water main."

"Any customers who experience discoloured water following the restoration of normal supplies should run the cold water tap slowly in their kitchen until it runs clear."

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