大象传媒

Parts of Essex were still experiencing either no water or low pressure this morning (Tuesday 20 Dec).

Water companies serving Essex said there've been multiple bursts in the past 24 hours due to the recent extreme weather conditions.

As of 10am, there were seven schools closed in the Bishop's Stortford area, with parts of Takeley with no water.

Last night there was chaos on the roads in South Essex because the A13 at the Sadlers Farm roundabout had to close because of a burst water main.

That was the fourth time since August that a leak has happened on the 600-metre stretch of road between the Sadlers Farm roundabout and the Tarpots junction.

Essex and Suffolk Water say the weather conditions and rapidly fluctuating temperatures are putting a lot of pressure on pipes. They say they have teams "working around the clock to carry out the repair as quickly as possible".

大象传媒 Essex speaks to Councillor Andrew Sheldon, Essex County Councillor for South Benfleet who was keeping residents updated on Monday evening.

大象传媒 Essex also speaks to Regan Harris from Anglian Water and Kevin Barton from Affinity Water about the wider issues with water leaks.

Statement from Affinity Water:

We are very sorry if you are still without water or experiencing low pressure this morning. We have fixed multiple bursts in the area in the last 24 hours and this has helped to keep more water in the area.

However, our local water storage reservoir still needs some time to recover following the significant increase in bursts due to the recent extreme weather conditions and some customers may still have their supplies impacted today.

What we鈥檙e doing:

* We are continuing to find and fix more bursts in the area and adjusting our network to get more water into the storage reservoir.
* We will also be arranging more bottled water for customers that have had their supplies impacted and we will let you know where these are available shortly.

How you can help:

* If you do have water, please can you help and avoid using your washing machine, dishwasher and other non-essential water use. This will help your local storage reservoir recover and make sure we have enough drinking water to go around, especially for vulnerable customers.

* If you do still have water, please can you avoid using your washing machine, dishwasher and other non-essential water use.

This will help to make sure we have enough drinking water to go around, especially for our vulnerable customers, and will help our local storage reservoir recover once the bursts are fixed.

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