Repairs to a major mains burst, which has left thousands without water, may not be finished until tomorrow (Friday). The incident started later yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) at the Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog. This is served by Llyn Cowlyd located 350m above the works in the Carneddau mountain range.
Affected areas include Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Llanrwst, Llanfairfechan, Trefriw, Abergele, Denbigh. Nineteen secondary and primary schools have been shut, with council offices, including Bodlondeb offices, Conwy Culture Centre, Conwy Castle and Bodnant Gardens, also reported closed.
The Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water outage map has been updated throughout the day and as of 1.25pm, was showing repairs are not expected to be completed until sometime on Friday January 17, although this is subject to change.
A statement on the website said: “Our crews are on site and working on the repair. We are rerouting water through our network and tankers are being mobilised to keep as many people on supply as possible.
“We apologise to anyone whose water supply is interrupted and would like to reassure them we are working hard to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”
An earlier statement by the water company said: “This morning a Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water spokesperson said: “We are still dealing with a burst water main at our Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog, which is impacting water supplies to properties across the Conwy Valley. Around 8,000 households lost supplies last night and around a further 33,000 properties are now at risk of losing supplies until the repair is complete.
“Our crews have been working on site overnight but this emergency repair is difficult and dangerous as the burst water main is two and half metres beneath the local river bed (Afon Ddu). This work requires specialist equipment and involves having to create a dam-like structure in the river so that we can excavate and access the damaged water main whilst protecting our workforce and the environment.
“We anticipate that supplies will not be fully restored until later today and customers have been contacted directly with text messages to inform them about this incident.
“We are prioritising delivering bottled water to vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register. This involves supporting 5,000 vulnerable customers in the affected areas. We are also tankering water into the network to maintain supplies to local hospitals.
“We will keep customers informed today and apologise to anyone whose water supply is interrupted and would like to reassure them we are working hard to resolve this significant incident.”
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