Tap water restored to most flood-hit homes

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) Most of the thousands of homes left without running water after last week's devastating floods should have had their supply reconnected, water bosses said today.

Severn Trent Water said the majority of areas in Gloucestershire affected when the Mythe water treatment works in Tewkesbury was submerged would have their supplies back on.

That meant that more than 70,000 of the 140,000 households that lost their tap water would have been reconnected.

However, hundreds of thousands of people are still left without running water and even those whose supply has been restored were warned that it was not yet safe to drink.

''We understand people still without water are anxious to learn when their water is coming back on, but it's very difficult to give exact timescales and specific locations,'' said Martin Kane, Severn Trent's director of customer services.

''We are aiming to have 80 per cent of homes back on supply within 24 hours. We must remind customers that when water is restored, it must not be used for drinking, even after boiling.'' It can be used for showering, bathing, flushing toilets and washing clothes, he said.

Emergency drinking water will continue to be supplied from water tanks and bottles. Severn Trent said there are 1,000 bowsers - water tanks - in affected areas and five million litres of bottled water were being handed out every day.

REUTERS ARB VV1540