Lostock Hall water supply returning to normal but schools will remain closed today

Lostock Hall Academy, Lostock Hall Community Primary School and St. Paul's Primary School in Farington Moss shut this morning after being left with no water supply.

But United Utilities have swiftly worked to bypass the leak and redistribute water through its network to the affected properties. The water supply has now been returned to most of the affected homes, schools and businesses.

Lostock Hall Community Primary School in Linden Drive asked parents who may have already dropped their children at school to make arrangements for them to be collected.

Both the primary school and Lostock Academy will remain closed today but will reopen tomorrow as normal.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "We’ve had a burst on a water main at the junction of Hennel Lane and Millwood Road.

"Engineers have stopped water going through the damaged pipe and are moving water around the network to help restore supplies to those properties affected.

"We are also sending a number of Water on Wheels tankers to the area which will pump water directly into the network, whilst the team carry out the necessary repair work.

"This burst was reported into us at 5.38am this morning and we’ve had 48 calls into our contact centre.

"Due to the fact we’re able to move water around the network, not all properties in the postcode areas will have been impacted and throughout this morning homes that temporarily have no water will start to see their taps flowing again.

"We’re really sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Engineers have been requested to attend to repair the burst as soon as possible, but due to the size of the area that has been affected this morning, it may take some time for the pressure to build to its usual levels.

The burst pipe affected hundreds of households in the PR1 and PR5 post codes, namely Lostock Hall and parts of Penwortham.

Townley House Nursery School in Liden Drive, close to Lostock Primary School, planned to remain open despite the water shortage.

A spokesman for the nursery said: "We were well prepared this morning. We knew about the leak so we came in early with plenty of bottled water and anti-bacterial wipes for the children.

"We don't like to let parents down so we try to stay open if we can. We understand the impact closures can have on parents, so we were determined to stay open today. Our water returned just before 9am, so it's not been too much of a problem for us."