People still without water after watching their Merseyside estate turn into a swimming pool

A burst pipe was reported by United Utilities (UU) on Sunday (December 7), and resulted in water gushing down the hill from Knowsley Park Lane into the communal gardens of the Elm House flats in Prescot.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) was contacted this morning, Wednesday (December 10), by a concerned relative of an Elm House resident who told them there was no water coming from the taps, and floods of water directly outside. To find out more detail, we travelled down to Prescot to ask people what had happened.

The LDRS spoke to several residents of Elm House, including people who had not experienced any problems, and those who had no water whatsoever. Some people’s water had already been restored, but there were at least two households who still had no water supply.

Two UU engineers were onsite digging holes outside a number of flats. The LDRS understands this work was to increase water pressure in those households, including the flat tenanted by Rachel Flynn.

Rachel, 35, has lived in Elm House for the last four years, and said she has had no water since Saturday morning (December 6). During our conversation, a section of Rachel’s front garden was being dug up by a UU engineer, she added: “It was like a swimming pool here last night.

“After all the water outside, there’s none available in here and I haven’t had water since the weekend, not one single, tiny drop. I initially thought it would just come back on, so I didn’t worry about it, but when I came back on Saturday night, there was still no water coming out the taps.”

Rachel said she had tried to ring both UU and Livv Housing – the housing association which manages Elm House – but was told the issue was resolved, despite making it clear there was still no water supply.

Rachel added: “There’s no water to drink, and there’s no water to wash so I’ve been buying wet wipes to keep clean, and using the water left in the kettle so I can brush my teeth. The laundry is also full and I can’t wash the clothes, so I’ve been stuck in the same pyjamas since Sunday.

“My neighbour has had the same problem with little or no water and they’ve (UU engineers) been outside his house. as well.”

We visited next door and spoke to Steve, 68, who accepted a tenancy with Livv Housing in 2021. He said: “It’s been going on over the last few days, and we got the message about it at three o’clock in the afternoon (Sunday).

“Then we got another text message saying it had been fixed and it would take a short while to come through. Nothing else.

“I tried to contact United Utilities on Monday, and got exactly the same message, until yesterday, when the [UU engineers] came round.”

Steve’s water supply is still not fully restored, with only a trickle coming through both the cold and hot water taps, at the time of writing.

A spokesperson for Livv Housing said it had checked with UU and confirmed there was a problem. That information came from the UU information portal which stated: “We’ve now fixed the problem and your taps should be flowing again.

“We will fill in the hole, remove the barriers and get the road back to normal as quickly as we can over the next few days.”

The LDRs followed up with UU which confirmed it had a “burst” on Knowsley Park Lane on Sunday (December 7) which it said was repaired, adding: “A small number of customers received further support throughout the weekend to restore their water supplies.

“We apologise for any inconvenience and thank our customers for their patience.”

The LDRS was then sent a photograph taken at mid-afternoon, appearing to show another flooding incident outside the flats at Elm House, and confirmed with Rachel that she still had no running water. She added: “I’m having to go around to my friend’s for water now.”

The LDRS contacted UU and Livv Housing again, attaching the photograph of the flooding and the ongoing reports of no water supply. We understand UU are now in direct contact with Rachel and are working to resolve the issue.