Customers in the Ashington and Newbiggin areas may experience low water pressure or no water for short periods of time this evening (Monday December 19).
This is due to the impact of the recent freeze-thaw weather conditions which have caused an increase in leaks and bursts on pipes across the region.
Our teams have been working 24/7 over recent days to find and repair leaks and minimise the impact to customers where possible.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing extreme temperatures and the issues these continue to cause, this has led to an impact on our water treatment process and supply capabilities for the Ashington and Newbiggin areas.
As a result, some customers may currently be experiencing low water pressure, or in some cases no water.
We are working hard to resolve this and get supplies restored as soon as possible.
We are supplying bottled water for those customers impacted, and this can be accessed at Ashington Leisure Centre.
We are encouraging customers to come and collect bottled water in a vehicle, where they should remain while our employee volunteers place the supplies in the boot.
For people who arrive at the bottled water stations on foot, a dedicated route will be put in place for collection and employees will be on hand to guide customers.
All of our priority service customers in these areas have been contacted, and we are in the process of hand-delivering bottled water to them.
Ashington Hospital’s water supply is not impacted by this, and we are working other critical businesses in the area to ensure they have emergency supplies during this time.
Northumbrian Water’s Operations Director, Richard Warneford, said: “We apologise for the impact this is having on our customers and we understand how difficult interruptions to water supply can be.
“We have people round the clock to get the situation resolved as soon as we can. We would like to thank customers for their patience.”
Anyone who thinks they need extra support can contact us on 0345 717 1100.
We are asking for customers to not ring this number unless it is an emergency as we want to keep the lines free for urgent requests for help.
Updates on the situation will be posted for customers through our Facebook page and on Twitter at @nwater_care.