Water woes force people to store supplies in baths

People living in a village in South Yorkshire have said they are having to stockpile water in their bathtubs due to ongoing problems with the supply.

Essential repair and maintenance work on the water tower in Goldthorpe, Barnsley, had led to "intermittent low pressure and temporary loss of supply" for some customers, Yorkshire Water said.

But one resident, Natalie Quinn, said that when the water did come on, she had to immediately fill her bath so she had enough to flush the toilet later in the day.

Yorkshire Water apologised for the problems and said it was "increasing the use of tankers in the area to minimise impact as much as possible during peak water demand in the early evening".

Quinn said that as well as her bathtub, she was also filling up her pans with water to ensure she had enough for when the supply went off again.

"I've got to boil the water I'm saving in them so I've got some hot water to wash my pots up with," she said.

"It's disgusting, because we're all getting told different things at different times.

"We just want it all sorting out now."

Residents said that during mornings and evenings there was very little water available.

Poppy Wilson, another Goldthorpe resident, said that was affecting her daughter's night time routine, because having a bath at home had become impossible.

"It's crazy. You think water should be a necessity anyway, but not to us," Wilson said.

"Every time you ring [Yorkshire Water], they tell you a different story."

Yorkshire Water said that as well as tankers, it was also delivering bottled water to customers on its priority register.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "We will complete the repairs to the water tower as soon as possible to return the water network to normal operation."

Meanwhile, the company said investment was planned in the area to prevent such incidents in the future.

The spokesperson added that the firm was currently awaiting permission from the local highways department to begin a £1m project which would see about a mile (1.2km) of water mains replaced on Barnburgh Lane, Straight Lane, Highfield Ave and Lockwood Road "to improve resilience of the water network in Goldthorpe".

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