Water

[#1]

We had only a slow trickle of Water out of our taps Yesterday...
Fortunately, we had showered before then, and had our first cups of Tea !....
Didn't chance it when supply became compromised, so then used Bottled Water for personal use.

United Utilities Emergency
Incident
Start time:
    07:52, Thursday, 5 November 2015
Effect:
    No Water / Poor Pressure
Update @ 07:52 -
You may have noticed that the water is coming out of your tap is slower than usual or may have gone off altogether. We have one of our inspectors looking into this at the moment and as soon as we know what the cause of the problem is we’ll let you know.
Update @ 16:38 -
Due to the complex nature of the repair to the burst water main work will be on-going throughout the course of the evening. 
Update @ 17:58 -
Due to the location of the trunk main that has caused the supply issues today, we have decided to recommence the repairs tomorrow morning. The repair work that we have done so far should have restored supplies to all properties in the area, though the pressure may not be perfect until the repairs have been completed.

It was a large Water main in a local Field.
We regained a nearly full water pressure soon after....
So, the 2 litre Bottled waters we have for such an eventuality came into good use yesterday.
We also save some Tap water for non drinking purposes, will wait a couple of days, then replenish those too.
So a Meal out in a not too local Restaurant last night !
The pressure seems to be back to normal this morning, sticking to Bottled Water for a while, for our Mugs of Tea....

[#2]

One advantage having the old system of header tanks over combination heating system I'm not affected in short periods of no water or longer periods of reduced pressure. My header tanks supply both hot and cold water taps.

[#3]

It's normally recommended to use 'direct' mains water for drinking (usually fed to kitchen tap even if other cold taps are tank fed), you wouldn't want to know what the spiders get up to in your header tank!
Header tank definitely an advantage for washing/flushing etc. when mains supply is lost.

[#4]

I always have a couple of 20 litre polyethylene water containers topped up with fresh water stored in the cellar. A sprinkle of nano-powdered silver keeps the water fresh, though I do refill every three months.
We usually end up giving the water to neighbours in the rare occurrence of a water supply outage.  Two 220 litre rainwater butts provide the water for flushing loos.

[#5]

Pembrokeshire had even worse problems...
Water supply restored to Pembrokeshire after burst pipe
Thousands of people were initially affected across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-34742801

[#6]

Quote from: w23

It's normally recommended to use 'direct' mains water for drinking (usually fed to kitchen tap even if other cold taps are tank fed), you wouldn't want to know what the spiders get up to in your header tank! Header tank definitely an advantage for washing/flushing etc. when mains supply is lost.

In a previous home, the Header Tank which supplied all non drinking water in the home, had to be drained for a pipe repair.
Mostly a supply into the Hot Water Cylinder, for Hot Taps & Gravity Shower
Looking into the tank, there was a lot of brown deposit in the bottom of the tank, which would normally be untouched.
During the draining by the Plumber into a nearby drain, towards the end, the water became very brown !!!
Needless to say, he gave it a good flushing before refilling occurred. 
We never used the Hot Tap for filling the Kettle, or Saucepans after that !!

[#7]

We were in the thick of the Pembrokeshire burst pipe saga. We had lots of advice and warnings from the supply company over the several days of problems. We still have our storage tanks in use and had hot water all the time. Only one toilet upstairs had a LP cold supply but we managed very well. For some of the time we did have cold water supply at reduced pressure, apparently from a small tanker which might have been used to keep a couple of dairy farms in business. The  trouble seems to be due to the age of the HP main and we now know that a complete new main is to be installed early next year.

[#8]

Having got through the Gloucestershire floods a few years back and also having a boat (which only has 150 gallons of "fresh" water and has to be topped up by a hose) its actually quite interesting to see how much less water you can get by on.

[#9]

Quote from: PlusComUK

We had only a slow trickle of Water out of our taps Yesterday... Fortunately, we had showered before then, and had our first cups of Tea !.... Didn't chance it when supply became compromised, so then used Bottled Water for personal use. The pressure seems to be back to normal this morning, sticking to Bottled Water for a while, for our Mugs of Tea....

 
Using Bottled Water for drinking was/is a good decision.
Taking a Shower at 5:30 this morning, the water pressure was noticeably lower, and the thermostatically controlled temperature was a bit higher, as happens when water pressure is Low, though at 5:30 am I do not think there would be many Water users up !!
Not low enough for the Low Pressure LED on the shower to light up .
Perhaps there's work going on in that field, or another Burst ?
Anyway..... time for Tea & Toast !

[#10]

Quote from: w23

It's normally recommended to use 'direct' mains water for drinking (usually fed to kitchen tap even if other cold taps are tank fed), you wouldn't want to know what the spiders get up to in your header tank! Header tank definitely an advantage for washing/flushing etc. when mains supply is lost.

My kitchen tap is the only one directly connected to the mains the rest are fed from the tank. But my system meet the requirements from defra for safe drinking water from the header tank.

[#11]

After another loss of water pressure last night (Preceeded by a warning telephone call) we seem to be back to normal now. It seems that the state of the existing high pressure main is a bit dire and let us hope that its replacement next year will be as smooth and effective as would be hoped!

[#12]

Quote from: itsme

My kitchen tap is the only one directly connected to the mains the rest are fed from the tank. But my system meet the requirements from defra for safe drinking water from the header tank.

So you think you are safe   That document is abysmal, DEFRA  should be ashamed. There is no mention of Legionnaires Disease.

Quote

Be aware that water in a tank will deteriorate, if: .....   the water becomes warm;   too much water is stored and turnover is low;

You should have a read of the Health&Safety Executive article
where it says

Quote

People contract  Legionnaires’ disease by inhaling small droplets of water (aerosols), suspended in the air, containing the bacteria. Certain conditions increase the risk from legionella if:     the water temperature in all or some parts of the system may be between 20-45 °C, which is suitable for growth     it is possible for breathable water droplets to be created and dispersed e.g. aerosol created by a cooling tower, or water outlets     water is stored and/or re-circulated     there are deposits that can support bacterial growth providing a source of nutrients for the organism e.g. rust, sludge, scale, organic matter and biofilms

On even only warm sunny days, never mind hot, water temperature in header tanks that are in a loft can easily get to 20°C+ increasing the danger of legionella.
As far as I'm concerned, even cleaning my teeth with water from a tap supplied from a header tank puts me potentially at risk of inhaling droplets that might contain legionella. The cold wash basin tap in my bathroom is the only one in the house that's been on my "todo" list for about 6 months, to change to be supplied direct from the mains instead of the header tank.

[#13]

and can you quote a case where Legionnaires Disease been caused by a domestic header tank?

[#14]

Oh, don't start making stupid remarks. Read all the HSE Information available. There have been several cases in the UK, but in any event "who cares" whether there have been many/any or not.
If you want to take a risk, that is up to you. I choose to reduce my risks

[#15]

I don't know about Legionella, but the pigeon and bat soup is delicious.