Water supply returns to 3,000 Ipswich homes after Storm Babet

Homes in the Whitton area of the town experienced either no water or low pressure water coming from the tap from Friday evening until Saturday evening.

READ MORE: Live updates as Suffolk deals with Storm Babet aftermath

Evie Blunsun, an employee at Krusty's bakery in Dales Road, Ipswich, reported that people had been visiting the bakery store to buy bottled water because their homes had lost the mains supply.

Cllr Ruman Muhith (Image: Charlotte Bond)

Ipswich borough councillor Ruman Muhith was among residents affected and said the water pressure was low on Friday evening, which he initially associated with work done by builders at his property.

However, he subsequently discovered from social media that other properties had been affected and he lost his supply completely, which was still the case on Saturday morning.

The loss of the water had affected his ability to have a shower, while he had bought supplies of bottled water from an Aldi in east Ipswich, which was largely unscathed by the water cut and saw fewer queues.

"You look at the third world, where they don't have any running water. They don't have clean water and we are whinging and complaining. It is an inconvenience, but it is not as bad as what is going on in the third world," Mr Muhith said.

He has written to water industry regulator OFWAT to see if it can help Anglian Water to prevent a repeat of this situation, adding that his main concern was for the vulnerable and how they can cope when water supplies are cut.

READ MORE: Storm Babet causes severe flooding across all of Suffolk

An Anglian Water spokesperson said the rain water had overwhelmed the treatment works.

A statement on the Ipswich Borough Council website said that 'high priority' customers registered with Anglian Water's priority services would be receiving a delivery of bottled water and that information would be provided on collection points.

By Saturday afternoon, the water firm had restored a low pressure supply to low lying areas by diverting water from elsewhere, but 'high lying' areas were still without water.

READ MORE: Major incident declared in Suffolk as Storm Babet continues

On Saturday, an Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We’re sorry that some customers in Ipswich have low pressure or no water at the moment.

"The heavy rain has caused flooding to our treatment works at Whitton which means we’ve had to divert water from elsewhere in the network, while we pump water away from the site and get it restarted.

“Although most people will have a supply, it will be at lower pressure than normal. 

READ MORE: Ipswich news

“Our teams are also out trying to clear air from the network, a bit like bleeding a radiator at home, to help resolve the problem. 

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, we’d like to thank our customers for bearing with us, please rest assured we’re doing all we can to get things back to normal.”

Shortly before 7pm, Anglian Water confirmed the issue had been resolved for many homes.

In an update, they said: "We're pleased to say most customers in Ipswich are back on water with normal or near to normal pressure.

"But there are still around 250 properties on higher ground where the water is struggling to get to them. While they have water, it's still at a much lower pressure than normal.

"We are so sorry about this. We know it's the last thing people need on a wet weekend, but rest assured we've been working hard behind the scenes to get taps flowing properly again.

"Our social media teams and our contact centre continue to be swamped with messages and calls as severe weather warnings continue across our region, so please bear with us. If you need to speak to us, we promise we'll get to you as soon as we can."