Apology made to villagers living near Melton who have had water supply problems this week

The company said freezing cold weather had prevented them from dealing more quickly with water supply problems.

Residents across the Vale of Belvoir and other villages on the outskirts of the town have reported issues and Severn Trent officials have taken the unusual step of handing out bottled water to those affected.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent said: “There are still a few dozen customers who we believe don’t have water as our teams continue to remove air from our network of pipes to get them back on.

“While we do that, we’d like to offer our sincere apologies again to everyone who’s been affected, but the repair and our work to use alternative methods to get everyone back on has been really hampered by the freezing conditions.

“We’re very aware there are still some homes and businesses on higher ground who still haven’t seen supplies return, or who might be experiencing some low pressure, and we’ve been out hand delivering 4,000 litres of bottled water to them.

“We’ll get more out this afternoon regardless of whether all supplies are back on just while we make sure everything is working as it should.”

For those customers experiencing lower pressure than normal, the company has been using a special piece of kit to work alongside one of their 18,000 litre tankers in a bid to get things back to normal a bit quicker.

“One of the big issues we’ve been experiencing is with the sheer amount of air that’s got into our pipes and, in the same way as you’d bleed a radiator we’re having to open a series of valves to let the air out of our pipes and that’s taking time as our teams have no option but to walk the length of the pipe network and physically turn valves to remove it,” added the spokesperson.

Severn Trent gave this advice to residents still experiencing difficulties with their water supply: “It’s possible that, when the water does come back on, there may be some air trapped in customer pipes - this is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about but it might mean you may see some airlocks.

“You can help clear these by turning your cold water tap on, then by turning the internal stop tap, usually under the kitchen sink, around eight times to help release some of the air.

“If you’re not familiar with where your internal stop tap is, then don’t worry, as the air will eventually find its way out and we’ll be doing our bit to clear any airlocks on our pipes so the supply can go back to normal.”

The company, which said it remained in contact with its most vulnerable customers, said it was confident things would get back to normal for everyone by later today (Tuesday).