Published: Friday, 8th January, 2010 11:07am

Burst main leaves 4,000 homes without water

by James Kell

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A BURST water main has left around 4,000 homes in Reading without water, and The Royal Berkshire Hospital has also been affected.

The main at the junction of London Road and Erleigh Road burst in the early hours of this morning and Thames Water engineers are currently on the scene trying to fix the problem.

Thames Water spokesman Simon Evans said: "The main burst at approximately 4am this morning and since then we have had around 450 calls reporting loss of water supply or low pressure, although we expect that up to 4,000 properties in the RG1 and RG6 areas have been affected.

"The Royal Berkshire Hospital has got water in most but not all areas and supply has been lost to some services including admin, nursery and conference room facilities. The burst is being treated as an urgent priority and we are in close contact with the hospital."

Royal Berks spokesman Joe Wise said: "The buildings that are affected are office blocks so it's not affecting the clinical side."

Redlands ward councillor Daisy Benson said the situation was 'worrying' and said: "We are in close touch with Reading Borough Council and Thames Water about this. Thousands of local residents are currently without water and the Hospital is also affected. Thames Water are on the scene and two lanes of London Road are currently closed but we are being told this could take four hours to fix."

"Bottled water will be available and as soon as we know more we will keep residents informed."

Sally Swift at Reading Borough Council said: "We had reports around 6.30am of a burst water main in the London Road outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Thames Water are in attendance and two lanes of the road are closed whilst work takes place."

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