Glynneath tap water running 'brown' due to 'unprecedented demand'

Ruth Knoyle said she was filling up the paddling pool for her children when the water began to run brown. Credit: Ruth Knoyle/Media Wales

People living in a south Wales town have said "stained" water has been flowing from their taps for "several weeks", prompting them to used bottled water instead.

Ruth Knoyle was filling up her garden swimming pool in Glynneath for her two children but returned to find the water was running "brown".

Ms Knoyle said she was advised by Welsh Water that the discoloured water was still safe to drink, but she has decided to purchase only bottled water until the issue is resolved.

Ruth, 47, said: "I filled the swimming pool up and went to pick up my two kids from playing sports. When we came back two hours later, the pool was brown. I said to my children, there is no chance of you going in the pool now. I spoke to Welsh Water and they told me it was still safe to drink but it could cause damage to white clothes when in the wash. None of it made any sense."

Other Glynneath residents have also posted about the issue on social media.

'Unprecedented demand of water'

Welsh Water confirmed that discoloured water has been affecting the Neath, Port Talbot and Maesteg areas and that investigations are ongoing, but said it was suspected to be the result of "unprecedented demand of water".

A notice on the Welsh Water website said: "We believe this is the result of unprecedented demand of water, investigations will continue whilst we respond to calls and continue to flush the network. We are really sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, please be assured that we are working hard to resolve the issues and hope this will improve over the next few days."It added: "We have teams in the area flushing the network to help clear this."

They also advised customers: "Run your cold kitchen tap, this will help to clear the supply. It usually clears fairly quickly after a few minutes of flushing your taps through but it may take around 45 minutes of running the tap before it clears. Avoid washing clothes until the water is clear."

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