Thousands without water as fault hits reservoir

Thousands of homes and businesses in the Wyre Forest district were left without water after a fault was discovered at a reservoir.

Severn Trent Water apologised today after up to 20,000 customers in the Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley areas were affected by the problem at Mount Pleasant reservoir yesterday.

From 2.30pm, residents and businesses were without their water supply or experienced low mains pressure.

Supplies resumed for most people by 10pm but 2,500 households were still left waiting until early today.

In Bewdley, pubs closed their kitchens, and shops sold out of water bottles.

There was also a problem at West Midland Safari Park where staff were forced to rely on reserves.

The problem began when Severn Trent Water maintenance workers noticed a problem with a supply valve to the reservoir, and were unable to fill the underground lake back-up.

Despite water supplies returning to homes and businesses overnight, the company warned today that people living in high areas in Bewdley and Stourport may still be having problems.

Pub kitchens were shut, showers out of use and bottled water flying off the shelves as communities struggled to cope during the incident.

Lorraine Legister, duty manager of Wetherspoon, in Load Street, Bewdley, described the situation as a 'nightmare'. The problems with the water supply, which lasted from around 2.30pm to 10pm, forced the pub's bosses to close the kitchen.

She said: "We get a lot of customers coming in for food, but we had to turn many away. We also had a problem because we could not use the glass washer."

Roger Coleman, owner of the Woodcolliers Arms, in Welch Gate, Bewdley, also found his water off at 4pm.

He said he kept the pub's kitchen open, but could only serve some foods such as gammon, eggs and chips.

He said: "It was obviously a big issue, it was one of those things you just had to wait on."

The water supply problem also meant shops in the town were selling out of bottled water, including at the Co-op, in Load Street.

At West Midland Safari Park, director of wildlife Bob Lawrence said water supplies stopped to the attraction at about 3pm.

He said: "The priority was to keep the animals cool and also to keep visitor facilities like the toilets going. We do have a back-up supply which kept us going."

The problems affected thousands of families. Bewdley resident Lisa Broom, 37, found her water off at about 3pm. "It was a hot day, but we couldn't have a shower or get a glass of water," the office worker said.

Today, Severn Trent Water said customers, although having their water supply back on, may experience low pressure or interruptions in supply due to demand.