Water shortages hit fourth day as more pipes burst

Disruption caused by burst pipes has continued into a fourth day after a strategic water main pipe burst in the south of Glasgow, causing "severe damage".

Thousands of properties have been affected by water shortages, flooding and road closures while repairs are carried out.

Other water main bursts in the surrounding area are thought to have been caused by the increase in water pressure when supplies were cut to the "vast" damaged water main on Pollokshaws Road on Saturday.

Scottish Water said it was investigating and carrying out any repairs needed in the area.

On Sunday, another burst main near the River Clyde on Florence Street created a huge hole in the road between City of Glasgow College and the Gorbals leisure centre.

The damage to the pipe led to water supplies being cut to an area up to four miles away, with communities in the Kings Park and Possilpark areas in Glasgow, as well as Rutherglen and Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire affected.

More burst water pipes were reported on Monday, with confirmed bursts on St Andrews Drive, St Andrews Road, and Maxwell Road leading to reduced supplies to about 1,000 properties in Pollokshields on Tuesday.

Scottish Water said re-routing water through different parts of the network caused more bursts to occur in the following days.

About 6,500 properties faced disruption to their supply following the first burst, which happened at about 16:30 on Saturday.

This included properties in the G41, G42, G43 and G44 postcode areas - which covers an area reaching from close to the River Clyde to the southern boundary of the city.

Pollokshaws Road was closed from Albert Drive to Cumberland Street, and flooding reached Cumberland Street, Eglington Street and Maxwell Road.

Engineers worked through the night to replace a 27-inch (69cm) strategic main water pipe, which was installed in 1901.

Scottish Water said road closures were expected to be in place for the rest of the week while engineers "reinstate the large area damaged by the burst water main".

A statement from the publicly owned company said: "The vast size of the main meant the burst caused flooding to the area; resulting in severe damage to the roads and a full reinstatement and clean-up is now under way."

Further mains bursts happened in Stonelaw Road, Rutherglen, and Pollokshields, Glasgow on Sunday.

A Scottish Water spokeswoman told BBC Scotland it was "highly likely that these smaller bursts are linked to the initial incident", but added that it was not uncommon following a "major event of this scale".

"Changes in pressure across the network, along with complex valve operations required to restore water supply to customers, can sometimes result in further bursts on smaller diameter pipes," she said.

The company's customer care team is dealing with requests for bottled water.

A message to customers on its website said: "Our priority is to ensure customers are supported during this difficult period and we appreciate that a number of customers have been impacted on more than one occasion since Saturday."

It added: "As operations are ongoing, customers may experience fluctuating periods of no water, low pressure, and/or discoloured water. If you experience discoloured water, please run your cold kitchen tap only at half pressure until the water runs clear."