Water firm hosts drop-in events after major outage

News imageJake Zuckerman/BBC A man in shorts and a blue T-shirt is bending down and filling up a water bottle from a bowser that is standing on wooden crates in the middle of a town square. Three women are standing behind him in a line with buckets ready for their turn, while two males standing next to the crouching man are watching on.Jake Zuckerman/BBC
During the outage, a farmer in Kirton in Lindsey put a bowser in the town square for residents to use for flushing toilets

Anglian Water is hosting two community drop-in sessions in North Lincolnshire following a recent water outage which left 36,000 customers in Scunthorpe and the surrounding area with no supply or low pressure.

The firm said it wanted to give residents the opportunity to speak directly to members of the team about their experiences.

The sessions are taking place at the Diamond Jubilee Town Hall in Kirton in Lindsey between 13:00 and 15:00 and 16:00 and 18:30 BST on Wednesday.

The aim was to understand how the community was affected, what worked well, and what could have been better, a spokesperson said.

According to Anglian Water, the problem was caused by two pipes bursting, which prevented water flowing into a local storage reservoir, with the outage causing a number of schools and businesses to close.

A collection point for bottled water was set up at Scunthorpe United's stadium, with some customers reportedly queuing for up to two hours.

About 1,800 customers in Kirton in Lindsey were affected.

Emma Staples, director of corporate affairs, previously apologised for the disruption, saying it had been "incredibly hard and difficult" for customers.

Customers who lost their water supplies were due to get £50 compensation.

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