Watercare’s contractor and crew made good progress overnight on fixing the broken watermain that caused up to 3,000 people to be without water.

Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne says: “Our contractor did an excellent job of repairing this large-diameter pipe, completing the welding work by 1:30am. This meant our crew were able to start the essential process of recharging and flushing the watermain earlier than expected.

“Some customers’ water supply will have returned to normal already, in time for their morning routine. For others, it may take a little longer – up until late morning – as we remove all the air from the network.

“There’s a chance that some customers will have water that is discoloured or looks milky. We encourage them not to be alarmed as its not harmful to a person’s health – the water was tested this morning and meets drinking water standards. However, we recommend they run a cold tap for 10 minutes to see if it clears. If it doesn’t, they should try again in an hour ahead of getting in touch with us.”

“We have four tankers supplying free emergency water to people. The locations are listed on our website. People will need to bring clean bottles, buckets or containers to collect water for drinking or hygiene purposes.”

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