Published: Tuesday, 18th November, 2008 13:45
Water choas hits Burgh
By Steve McElroy
Print Article
The public queue to collect supplies of bottled water in Helensburgh today (Tuesday).
Large parts of Helensburgh are without water today after a supply pipe burst next to Hermitage Academy.
Supplies were first disrupted last night and Scottish Water distributed bottled supplies around the Burgh and placed tanks at strategic locations.
Emergecy supplies were quickly snapped up and there were reports of people driving off with car loads, as no restrictions were placed on the number of water packs per individual.
One woman told the Advertiser: "It was utter chaos. There was panic hoarding of bottles of water with no regulation over the amount of water being given per household."
At mid day today (Tuesday) a Scottish Water spokesman said: “Scottish Water engineers are continuing to work as quickly as possible to restore normal drinking water supplies in the Helensburgh area after a main in the playing fields at Hermitage Academy school burst yesterday (Mon.).
“The burst has caused disruption to the normal supply to about 6000 properties in the area.
“Very poor ground conditions have made the work to restore supplies very difficult. The health and safety of our workers is of paramount importance and that is why it has been necessary to take extra care in excavating the pipe and working on the repair.
“We estimate that the repair will be completed this afternoon. However, given the difficult conditions, we will monitor this closely to better understand and manage the impact of any further delays.
“It will take a number of hours for the network to recharge and normal water supplies are expected to be restored tonight.
“In the meantime, alternative water supplies will continue to be made available to customers, including those with special needs.
“Scottish Water would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the burst and thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”
Scottish Water has so far provided a total of 200,000 litres of bottled water to customers in the Helensburgh area since the burst main yesterday.
Bottled water is currently located at the Swimming Pool car park in West Clyde Street and is being mobilised at three other locations at Kidston car park in Rhu Road Lower, the Victoria Halls car park in Sinclair Street, and in Churchill Square.
FULL STORY AND PICTURES IN THE ADVERTISER - OUT ON THURSDAY.
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