Burst water main leaves thousands of North Wales homes without water

Water company Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has warned that it could still take days to resume normal service after a burst main left thousands without water. The problem has now been fixed, the company confirmed, and they are now refilling the network.

The leak began at the Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works in Dolgarrog on Wednesday afternoon. Since then more than 40,000 homes have been affected, with businesses and schools being forced to close.

Water supplies were gradually lost in large parts of Conwy including Conwy Valley and town, Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Old Colwyn, and Llanfairfechan. Water collection points have been set up to provide water to people whose supply was affected by the leak, NorthWalesLive reports.

The burst main was located two and a half metres underneath a riverbed. This meant that the repair was extremely difficult to undertake due to the volume of water in the river.

Working around the clock, engineering teams used a coffer dam to redirect the river. This is an enclosed space in a body of water where water is then pumped out to expose the bed.

Crews then used a trench box, a tool that allows for quick and stable construction of a trench, to expose the leaking pipe. This allowed technicians to work on the damaged main safely.

Dwr Cymru confirmed that the repair work has now successfully been carried out. However, it advised that it could take up to 48 hours for the water network to refill and normal service to resume.

A spokesperson for Dwr Cymru said: "We can confirm that the repair work for the burst water main at our Bryn Cowlyd Water Treatment Works, Dolgarrog was completed at lunchtime. We are now refilling the network.

"Water supplies will still not be fully restored to all affected customers