Boil Water notice for parts of Rhondda Cynon Taff extended until 8th December
29 November 2024
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will issue a further payment of £100 to all households affected by the precautionary ‘boil water’ notice issued to parts of Rhondda Cynon Taf.
This comes as the company warned that customers will need to continue boiling their drinking water for another seven days, until Sunday, 8th December. The first boil notice was issued on Sunday, 24th November and runs until Sunday, 1st December.
Customers living in Blaenrhondda, Blaencwm, Tynewydd, Treherbert, Treorchy, Cwm-parc, Ton Pentre, Gelli, parts of Pentre, parts of Tonypandy and parts of Ystrad are covered by the notice.
The notice was issued following flooding at the Tynywaun Water Treatment Works near Treherbert. The weather gauge at Tynywaun measured the second highest rainfall in the UK last Saturday and Sunday during Storm Bert. Surface water ran down from the hill onto the drinking water storage tank and impacted the tank.
Some of the work to protect the from future flooding involves installing waterproof membranes around the storage tank. Membranes also need to be laid on the roof of the tanks and the team are limited in terms of the weight of machinery that can be used to achieve this.
A period of dry weather is needed to achieve this successfully, and Welsh Water’s efforts have been hampered by further wet weather this week and there is more rain forecast for the weekend.
The team will continue to work 24 hours a day to get it done as quickly as possible.
To recognise the extended inconvenience an extra payment will be made to customers of £100, on top of the original £150 payment.
Businesses will be paid a further £200 following the original £300 compensation. Eligible affected companies will also be able to apply for a £2,500 scheme to compensate for certain costs/loss of gross profit.
There are three water bottle stations open for residents to collect bottled water, with more than 150,000 water bottles distributed so far. Welsh Water have been delivering water bottles to vulnerable customers, households, schools, nurseries and hospitals.
Vulnerable customers can sign up to Welsh Water’s Priority Services Register by calling the customer service team on 0800 052 0130 – lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water CEO Peter Perry said: “I’d like to thank all our customers in the affected areas of Rhondda Cynon Taf for their co-operation and patience and would like to apologise for the inconvenience.
“We are facing a number of challenges as we try to complete the repair to the water tank, with our teams working around the clock.
“I’d like to reassure everyone that we are doing everything we can and working day and night to ensure everything is back to normal as soon as possible.
“Protecting the health of our customers and providing them with a clean, fresh drinking water supply is our number one priority and we will not take any risks in terms of public health.”