Customers left with discoloured water after Cornwall mains burst could get compensation
South West Water has apologised to those affected by damage caused by a third party contractor
Last updated 3rd Sep 2021
If your water was discoloured after that big pipe burst in Cornwall, you could be entitled to compensation.
Hundreds of homes in the TR1 to TR16 postcode areas lost supply or experienced low pressure earlier this week.
Other customers were left with murky coloured water, as far west as Carbis Bay.
Thousands of bottles of water were handed out at collection points and even delivered to vulnerable residents.
South West Water says the mains damage was caused by a third party contractor.
Now bosses say those on meters who had to run taps clear might be able to claim money back.
Advice on South West Water's website states: "Discolouration is normally short lived following a burst or repairs to our network and should clear after running your cold kitchen tap for an hour.
"Sometimes it may persist due to the size of the burst or time taken to make the repair but it shouldn’t last beyond 24 hours.
"We will normally flush the pipes after a repair to clear the sediment and get your water running clear again.
"If you’re on a meter and have had to run your tap to clear the discolouration for more than an hour, fill in this form and we’ll credit your account to cover the cost of the water".
In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, the company said: "South West Water is pleased to say that after the hard work over the last few days all customers should now have water.
"We’d like to thank those that are still experiencing discolouration for their understanding. We know this is inconvenient, and we want to reassure our customers that we are doing everything possible to get supplies back to normal as quickly as possible.
"To help with this, we are asking customers who have discoloured water to run their taps to help clear any remaining discolouration in their area.
"We recognise that heavily discoloured water is not something you would want to drink but would like to reassure any customers who may have accidently drank some that it will not do them any harm. As the water clears, it is fine to continue to use the water as normal.
"We want to thank our teams across the business who have worked day and night to get these issues resolved and who have even changed roles to assist customers with alternative water supplies.
"They have handed out thousands of water bottles at multiple collection points over the last few days and delivered to the homes of vulnerable people and those who couldn’t get to us.
"We couldn’t have done any of this without their dedication and hard work to support our customers right across Cornwall.
"Our colleagues’ desire to help after catastrophic third party damage to our mains, has been incredible to witness and we want to also thank our customers for being so patient and understanding during the last few difficult days, where we faced severe disruption to supplies, which was beyond our control".