Water supplies to homes hit again

Homes in an area of south Wales which had a disrupted water supply due to the freezing weather last week, have been affected again.

Welsh Water said it had received a number of calls from people in the Rhondda Fach reporting that their water supply had stopped on Sunday evening.

A team was dispatched to the area at 1830 GMT and the issue was resolved, said a spokeswoman for Welsh Water.

The water supply to 6,000 homes was affected by the cold last week.

Welsh Water apologised to customers and said that water supplies had been restored at around midnight.

A spokeswoman said it was still looking into the cause of the disruption although it was believed to be connected to last week's interruption to the treatment process at Maerdy Water Treatment Works.

"When the system of pipes supplying customers was drained and refilled an airlock was created in the mains pipes," she said.

"This caused a loss of supply to some customers in the upper Rhondda Fach. This was not connected with the works, which was operating normally at the weekend."

The spokeswoman said bottled water was made available to customers with special needs and mothers with young babies throughout the incident.

Water bowsers were also deployed to areas affected.

Treatment works

Supplies to homes and businesses in the area were first affected around a week ago.

Supplies to more than 5,000 homes between nearby Porth and the village of Maerdy were only restored on Wednesday night after 48 hours.

On Thursday, parts of Rhondda Fach were hit for a third day after further problems at the treatment works at Maerdy.

Villages affected included Maerdy, Wattstown, Ferndale, Blaenllechau, Tylorstown and Ynyshir.

Around 600 homes in the Trehafod area of Rhondda were cut off after three mains burst on Thursday.

The disruption resulted in the closure of two primary schools and a road in Trehafod as repairs were carried out.