Welsh Water lifts boil water notice for parts of Rhondda Cynon Taf

Customers in several Rhondda Cynon Taf communities no longer need to boil their tap water after Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water lifted part of its precautionary notice following days of disruption, with remaining affected areas scheduled to have the boil water notice lifted later this week.

On 22 May it was announced that Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water had identified a problem at one of its treatment works, issuing a boil water notice for homes across 24 communities.

The boil water notice has now been lifted with immediate effect for customers in the following communities. This means customers in these areas no longer need to boil tap water before drinking, cooking or brushing teeth:

Zone 1 – Penrhys, Maerdy, Blaenllechau, Pontygwaith, Stanleytown, Tylorstown, Ferndale, Pentre, Wattstown, Ynyshir, Ystrad.

Customers in the following areas should continue to boil tap water until further notice:

Zone 2 – Trehafod, Llwyncelyn, Graig, Treforest, Pwllgwaun, Hopkinstown, Pontypridd. 
(We currently aim to lift the boil water notice in these areas at 6pm on Tuesday, 26 May.)

Zone 3 – Trebanog, Tonyrefail, Penrhiwfer, Cymmer, Williamstown, Porth, Tonypandy, Glynfach.
(We currently aim to lift the boil water notice in these areas at 6pm on Wednesday, 27 May.)

The company described the cause as an issue with the chemical process used to treat drinking water at its Maerdy Water Treatment Works during routine checks.

Water from the site was temporarily stopped from entering the network while Dŵr Cymru undertook investigations and remedial work to resolve the issue.

Customers continued receiving water supplies with no interruption to the service, but were advised to boil tap water before using it for drinking, brushing teeth, preparing food or making ice.

Following the update on Monday 25 May, Welsh Water Chief Operating Officer Steve Wilson said:  “We are adopting a phased approach to lifting the boil water notice so that restrictions can be removed as soon as it is safe to do so in each part of the network, rather than waiting for every area to clear at the same time.

“Water moves gradually through this network, largely by gravity, meaning some communities receive refreshed treated water sooner than others.

“Before lifting the notice in any zone, we are carrying out extensive sampling, testing and network flushing to ensure water quality meets the high standards our customers expect. Protecting public health has been our priority throughout this incident and we will continue to update customers as this phased process progresses.

“Our bottled water stations will remain open for as long as they are needed and we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding. We recognise the significant disruption and inconvenience this incident has caused, particularly during the current period of hot weather, and we are sorry for the impact on customers and communities.”

Customers can check how they are affected by using the postcode checker on the Dŵr Cymru website, including information on details of compensation available for customers.