Thames Water refuted reports of it issuing a do not drink warning after a pipe burst in Swindon.

Neighbours in several SN postcodes lost their supply of water or experienced low pressure at their taps over the weekend.

While engineers worked on repairing the pipe from 6.30pm on October 19, the company rerouted the local network to restore supply to nearby homes.

One resident shared a text conversation with Thames Water in which the question of whether the tap water was safe to drink or use for baby formula was answered with "it's not safe for the baby to drink the water," and further advised to drink bottled water.

 

Another person said that they had spoken to Thames Water at roughly 10.15am who confirmed they were getting a 'high number of calls' regarding the taste and smell of the water coming out of their taps.

This member of the public said that Thames Water advised her that they were flushing the system through and recommended running a ground-floor cold tap in 'roughly an hour' for several minutes, and 'highly recommended' that they use bottled water in the meantime.

The supply was fully restored by Monday morning and Thames Water reassured customers that the water it supplies is of good quality and safe to drink.

A spokesperson said: “On Saturday, October 19, our engineers repaired a burst water mains pipe in Braydon Crossroads (SN5).

"To help keep our customers in supply, we boosted local water supply using tankers.  “This can sometimes lead to a short-term change in the taste and smell of water supplied.

"We would like to reassure customers that our network engineers have carried out water quality tests and can confirm the water supplied is of good quality and safe to drink. We are also running further tests to reassure our customers.    “Our water is among the highest quality drinking water in the world – and since 2010 more than 99.95 per cent of tests taken from customers’ taps met the standard required by UK legislation.

"Every year we carry out more than 500,000 tests, taking samples from source to tap.  “We will continue to top up local water supply in the area to keep the taps flowing for our customers.  "We are sorry to those customers who continue to experience low pressure and expect this to improve over the course of Wednesday."  

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