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No water

(45 Posts)
Luckygirl3 Tue 20-Dec-22 08:50:04

We have had no water for 36 hours here. Messages we get from Welsh Water are decidedly unhelpful - most of the info is extremely vague.

Luckily I have small bottles of water, some cartons of oat milk and cans of appletise so I will not dehydrate - but I might stink!

I also have lots of adult sized wet wipes from when OH was so ill so might be able to curb the stink a bit!

Seems a pump at a reservoir has failed. They are bringing a tanker to the next village at some point, rumour has it.

Mamie Wed 21-Dec-22 16:40:36

My daughter is in the same town as you NanaBabs1. It is an utter disgrace, with appalling communications to residents.

NotSpaghetti Wed 21-Dec-22 16:57:40

luckygirl and others.
I hope you have people who will help you until this is resolved. 🤞

MrsKen33 Wed 21-Dec-22 17:32:37

Dad just been talking to Welsh Water. They seem not to know where the burst is in Carmarthen. 😡

Callistemon21 Wed 21-Dec-22 17:41:28

I think I'll fill the bath ....

Jaxjacky Wed 21-Dec-22 18:36:31

We’ve just had this in my area:

Luckygirl3 Thu 22-Dec-22 09:52:14

4th day of no water. But WW have now supplied bottles - it took 3.5 days for them to do this.

For us all the most difficult thing has been the total absence of communication about anything: what the problem is, where they have got to in solving this, when and if water will be delivered - nothing, just nothing.

And the map on their website showed an area in red that was cut off but did not include our village. We kept ringing and saying that we too had no water and they said they knew. But when bottled water was eventually delivered it was only because friends directed them down here that we got any at all. The guy who came said we were not on his list. It has been quite exasperating!

There are now pallets of bottled water outside the pub for anyone to help themselves. It goes against the grain pouring good drinking water down the toilet to flush it or washing up with it, but we have no choice.

Rumour has it that they are refilling the local reservoir (goodness knows how!) and that we might get small amounts of water gradually as they cannot open the floodgates too much or there will be damage to pipes. All rumour though ....

I will definitely store any leftover bottles that I have for another time.

Callistemon21 Thu 22-Dec-22 12:13:47

Well, thank goodness! But it took them long enough to respond and provide you with water.

We've got water butts but I'm not sure I'd fancy drinking anything from them. The water would be all right for flushing the loo and rainwater is lovely for washing your hair.

Luckygirl3 Thu 22-Dec-22 23:30:12

Water came back at about 3pm - I sent GS off on a trip to flush both toilets; set a machine full of washing going; leapt joyously in the shower - and then had a message to say that the water was only a small amount which had been achieved by pumping a tankerful of water into the pipes while they continue to look for the leak ........ and that we must only use it to flush the loos!!! .... oops!

Juliet27 Fri 23-Dec-22 11:30:08

I’ve pm’d you NanaBabs

Tamayra Fri 23-Dec-22 12:05:47

Guess you could melt snow if you have any that is
How inconvenient for you all.
Otherwise perhaps install rainwater tanks New builds in Australia have to have them before they get passed by the authorities as dwellings

grandtanteJE65 Fri 23-Dec-22 12:23:54

You can save the used washing up water and use it for flushing the toilet the couple of times a day that are necessary.

If it looks like rain or snow put out buckets - the water or snow you gather is clean enough for flushing toilets, washing your hands in, or boiled first for washing up with.

Your local chemist may stock potassium permanganate which can be used for disinfecting water.

Jaxjacky Fri 23-Dec-22 12:31:38

We fortunately escaped, but others around us didn’t, water now slowly coming back for them. Southern Water are a disgrace.
I hope you and others are now back to normal Luckygirl.

sunglow12 Fri 23-Dec-22 12:46:24

When we had no water as the well ran dry on the Scottish small island we once lived on - I used to have to drive down to the pier to get 5 gallon drums of it in a car which had a hole near the accelerator pedal and we had never had even one driving lesson -( twanged into the barbed wire fence going out off the garage and crashed into the packing cases at the bottom of it on entering it as didn’t know about clutch control , holding the HMSO driving manual ). Somebody had given us a tiny one gallon drum washer that you poured hot water into and I used to turn the handle 240 times . It sort of pressed soapy water through the clothes in it to clean them . We used all washing up water to flush the toilet and had a very small tin bath in which I displaced a lot of water so 2” went to the top with me in it . I had to order disposable nappies from mother care by post and the following year when the well ran dry we used rain water from the water butts the education supplied the school my husband worked at and a spin dryer . Washing was usually blown horizontal and we used storm pegs which we still have . We managed ! Good luck - I know water can feel very heavy to carry . The farmers thought we were very peculiar wanting to wash a lot as they thought a bath once a month was ok .

Nannina Fri 23-Dec-22 12:55:22

A couple of weeks ago, during the sub zero temperatures, a mains water pipe ruptured and the pressure of the water fractured the mains gas pipe. Fortunately for me this happened in the area adjacent to me but the residents affected had water gushing out of ovens, fires and boilers. They were without water for several days and gas for a week. The local community centre provided bottled water and electric heaters as well as being a warm spaces with hot food and drinks and The local sports centre became the source of free showers. I don’t know how those poor folk managed and thank my lucky stars I was spared the ordeal

Theoddbird Fri 23-Dec-22 13:02:31

The pipe feeding my standpipe was frozen for 12 days during the recent cold spell. My water tank was empty as I was about to fill it when the freeze came. I managed with bottled water for cooking and washing. We can manage quite well when needed I think. I just kept positive. Hope you get water soon.

Treetops05 Fri 23-Dec-22 13:36:58

East Devon is in the same state as the OP, many areas have been missing water since the weekend, Seaton, Axminster area. My DD is smack bang in the middle but has water...no rhyme nor reason...

Coco51 Fri 23-Dec-22 14:23:15

Older and vulnerable people can sign up for extra assistance if utilities go down. Might be worth registering for priority assistance.

Luckygirl3 Fri 23-Dec-22 22:29:13

I am glad to say that we now have our water back and this time it is from the mains rather than a tanker. It is a huge relief.

Coco51 - I am on the priority list, but WW would not acknowledge that we had no water in our part of the village as their map of the outage was inaccurate, in spite of the whole village telling them over and over again. It was very frustrating.

But the blessing of it all is that I now know that I am surrounded by a caring community of people who did everything they could to help - and did these things quite unasked. When bottled water arrived on pallets outside the pub, several people realised I would not be able to lift the packs of bottles, so asked if I would like them to fetch for me; more people offered to pour buckets of rainwater down my loo, as once again they realised that I would not be able to lift the buckets; those with more water than they needed offered the excess to me; so many people offered showers/baths or the use of their washing machine etc. etc.

This is why I moved back here when I was widowed - to be amongst a kind and caring group of people in my village and those surrounding - all the villages pulled together to help those who needed it. Such a community is precious beyond words.

Callistemon21 Fri 23-Dec-22 22:33:38

It certainly is, Luckygirl.

We are all rather quiet here but know there would be help if anyone needed it.