Water supplies restored to homes

Water supplies to about 9,000 properties in Wirral have been restored by engineers who made emergency repairs to a leaking main.

Buildings in Rock Ferry, New Ferry and Higher Tranmere were without water for about six hours while the 12in (30cm) main in Well Lane was being repaired.

The work was completed by 0200 GMT on Thursday, a spokesman for United Utilities said.

Customers had been advised to store water in kettles and pans overnight.

Paul Harrison, network customer manager at United Utilities, said: "Previous attempts to repair the leak without interrupting water supplies have been unsuccessful.

"We have considered rerouting supplies to customers from a different part of the network so there would be no disruption whilst repairs were ongoing, but the risk of them experiencing discoloured water was too high.

"This has left us with no choice but to shut off the main and complete the repair."