Some homes could be without water supplies until Sunday due to a burst water main. The incident started later yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) at the Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog.
Affected areas include Conwy, Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Llanrwst, Llanfairfechan and Trefriw. More than 20 secondary and primary schools have been shut, with council offices, including Bodlondeb offices, Conwy Culture Centre, Conwy Castle and Bodnant Gardens, also reported closed.
Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water say the repair is taking “longer than planned” to resolve due to the complex challenges posed. They say even once the repair is carried out it could be 48 hours before some properties get water supplies back.
A Welsh Water spokesperson has given more details about the difficulties the repair teams are facing.
They said: “The repair to the burst water main at our Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog is taking longer than was planned. The burst water main is two and half metres beneath the riverbed and the volume of water in the river is making the repair exceptionally difficult.
“We have created a coffer dam to redirect the river and a trench box around the damaged pipe so that we can excavate and access the damaged water main whilst protecting our workforce and the environment. Once the burst water main has been repaired it could take up to 48 hours before water supplies are fully restored as the network refills – but some customers will regain before then as water fills the network.
“The Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works services one of the largest networks in Wales, supplying the Conwy Valley all the way to Llandudno and operates under very high pressure. The network includes service reservoirs that store water and mains that deliver the water to the customers.
“It will take time for the system to re-fill to a sufficient level to restore the supply to customers. This process can’t be rushed as it could cause problems with water pressure, discolouration of water or further bursts.
“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 intend to have bottled water stations in place tomorrow, but as there is currently a shortage in the bulk supplies of bottled water across the UK and we are sourcing bottled water from as far as Scotland. We’re using current supplies to prioritise our vulnerable customers.
“Compensation arrangements will be put in place to those customers who have lost their supplies together with additional arrangements for business customers.
“We are doing all we can to restore supplies as soon as possible and we apologise for the inconvenience we have caused.”