WELSH Water says “lessons will be learned” after thousands of households in Ceredigion were left without water supply for up to four days as a result of burst pipes.

Welsh Water Chief Executive Peter Perry has said that customers who were without supply for 12 hours or more will be paid £70 per day in compensation to cover any additional costs that may have been incurred, such as the purchase of bottled water.

Payments will be paid automatically to the account holder early in the new year, although it could take a few weeks to process these payments.

All business customers impacted by the supply interruptions will also be able to claim for the losses they may have incurred as a result of the service failures.

Mr Perry said: "We are writing now to make clear to customers that we will be going beyond our regulatory obligations in order to compensate customers, because we recognise we have failed to meet customers' expectations.

"Lessons have and will be learned from this incident, and once again please accept my sincerest apologies for the issues that you have encountered."

Tivyside Advertiser: Supplies of bottled water arrive in Aberaeron.Supplies of bottled water arrive in Aberaeron. (Image: Elizabeth Evans)

Thousands of households across the Ceredigion were left without running water in the build up to Christmas after burst pipes following freezing temperatures affected the water supply.

It is estimated that around 4,500 homes were affected since last Saturday, 17 December, with properties in Cardigan, Lampeter, Llandysul, Aberaeron and surrounding areas all affected.

Welsh Water said it has distributed over 50,000 bottles of water, with the main focus being to deliver to customers who had registered a priority need as stock ran low.

People had to travel to fetch water at their nearest bottled water stations, which were made available at Newcastle Emlyn, Llandysul, Cardigan and Aberaeron.

Nine schools in Ceredigion - including two secondary schools - were closed, including Ysgol Ciliau Parc; Ysgol Llangwyryfon; Ysgol Gynradd Aberteifi; Ysgol Dihewyd; Ysgol Talgarreg; Ysgol Llannon; Ysgol Gyfun Aberaeron; Ysgol Bro Teifi and Canolfan Aeron, Ceredigion Pupil Referral Unit (PRU).

Hywel Dda University Health Board said services at its Integrated Care Centres in Cardigan and Aberaeron had been affected, and day centres had been closed.

Shops, cafes and businesses were also forced to close in the crucial week before Christmas, as were Ceredigion County Council's County Hall and Aberaeron Leisure Centre.

"Its still the same, still no water," said Cardigan councillor Elaine Evans.

"A small group of us have been running around with the water bowser since Sunday, locating it in different parts of town that have been affected, so people had flushing water.

"Ceredigion County Council sourced water for the county and importantly the homes, which have had a delivery of that and a bowser so they can flush toilets.

"We have distributed water to as many elderly and vulnerable as we can, and Ceredigion have someone delivering water to their vulnerable list too."

Meanwhile Cardigan deputy mayor Siân Maehrlein has paid tribute to the way the community has pulled together.

"We would never have managed the situation without the help of the public and a few town councillors," said Cllr Maehrlein.

"We are grateful to the farmers and builders for giving the bowsers for flushing water and also drinking water too. The community comes together at times like this."

Tivyside Advertiser: Welsh Water delivering bottled water through the night.Welsh Water delivering bottled water through the night. (Image: Welsh Water)

A statement from Chief Executive Peter Perry said he "would like to apologise sincerely" for the recent loss of water supply.

“I appreciate that this has been a major inconvenience and frustration for you, your families and community," he said.

“I appreciate that this has been a major inconvenience and frustration for you, your families and community.

“We put plans in place to deal with the impact of the sudden change in the weather conditions last weekend following the prolonged freezing weather conditions, and whilst we managed to maintain water supplies to 99% of customers across our operating area there were customers in some communities who experienced prolonged loss of supply.

“We are undertaking a detailed review of the incident to learn from the issues that we encountered, however, it is clear that there are a number of areas where we could and should have done better – especially in terms of the provision of alternative water supplies in rural areas, timely communication with customers on the issues we were facing and local updates on the progress we were making to rectify these issues.

“I apologise sincerely for these shortcomings. The number of repairs we had to make on our network, together with the number of burst pipes customers had on their own properties, as well as poor weather conditions and the rural nature of the area, all contributed to the amount of time it took to restore the service.

“With over 2000km of water mains in the affected area, there have been significant challenges in restoring the network. The extent of the loss of water from our network due to these circumstances equalled the amount of water we put into supply at the height of the summer drought.

“Recognising that many customers were without supply for 12 hours or more, many for a number of days, we will pay our household customers £70 per day in compensation and to cover any additional costs that may have been incurred such as the purchase of bottled water.

“Therefore, any customers who have been without supply for four days will receive £280 in compensation. For context, the average annual household water and sewerage bill is £446.

“We will look to make these payments automatically to the account holder early in the new year, although it could take a few weeks to process these payments.

“Similarly, we will also ensure local businesses are compensated for every day that they were without supply and any verifiable losses they incurred as a result of the supply failures.

“We will write to all business customers impacted by the supply interruptions to outline the compensation they will receive and also how they will be able to claim for the losses they may have incurred as a result of these service failures, we will do this early in the new year."