RESIDENTS in a wide area around Crompton Way, Bolton, were furious yesterday when they found their tapwater was dirty brown and full of sediment - again.

In August the residents were faced with the same problem when "undrinkable" water poured through their taps, caused by North West Water switching the flow of supplies around the system to meet the demand.

Mum-of-three Lorraine Hauka of St Bees Road stormed yesterday: "The problems started on Tuesday night and I tried from 8pm until midnight to get through to the water company but I was continually put on hold or given an answer machine.

"They keep saying the water is all right to drink but personally I wouldn't feel safe using it."

Lorraine's husband Michael is disabled and one of her children, Mark, aged 10, is autistic.

She said: "I decided to give Mark a bath but when I looked at the state of the water I felt it was a waste of time - he would have ended up dirtier than before."

Lorraine, 33, has ignored NWW's reassurances that the water is safe to drink and has only given her family bottled water.

She is also outraged at advice from NWW to run the tap until the water runs clear.

"I ran the tap for 20 minutes to no avail. And then it occurred to me that on Sunday NWW is introducing a ban on non-essential use of water yet they are telling me to pour water down the drain."

An elderly disabled couple also faced problems when the water turned "black".

On the previous occasion when the water had been discoloured NWW had promised to deliver bottled water so they could take their medication.

But it took three separate attempts for the couple to get through to NWW to register their complaint.

A spokesman for NWW explained today that the discoloured water was a consequence of a leaking main on Crompton Way.

To keep the supply running the company had re-zoned the water and this had caused the discoloration.

Yesterday NWW were repairing the pipe and the spokesman promised that the water in the area affected would clear towards the end of the day.

"It's important to point out that the water is perfectly safe to drink and there is no need to boil it. And the sediment in the water will quickly clear once the repair work has been finished," he said.

"The advice we would give to customers in normal situations would be to run the tap for a short while until the water runs clear. But with the current shortage that isn't the best advice at the moment."

He apologised for the inconvenience to customers explaining that the current problems with discoloured water were a result of NWW's attempts to preserve water reserves.

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