Thousands wake up to more water issues all across North Staffordshire

Dave Knapper
·4-min read
A fire in Stoke-on-Trent has led to low water pressure in parts of the city
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


Thousands of households across North Staffordshire have woken today to find more problems with their water supply. In what is an ongoing issue for certain neighbourhoods Severn Trent has again sent out scores of text messages to affected customers.

It comes after the water supplier had issued 'sincere apologies' to homes impacted by a loss of supply, low pressure, or discoloured water. Today and such problems have returned across a raft of streets around Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and the Moorlands.

It comes just over a week since there was a similar widespread issue. Now more text messages have been sent by Severn Trent as families yet again wake up to find problems around their water supply.

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Where is affected

Yet again an 'area event' has been declared by the water supplier for neighbourhoods regularly impacted. This takes in all of Brown Edge, a chunk of Endon, along with Norton, Brindley Ford, Fegg Hayes, part of Burslem around High Lane, and part of Milton in the Newford Crescent area. In an update on Severn Trent's website all those affected streets are said to be impacted by a 'technical fault' affecting one of the water supplier's boosters.

There's another area event in Chesterton where residents have been warned they may experience discoloured water. In addition to that 'area events' there are issues around supply and pressure in a number of other locations.

In some it is a specific street, while others it's a slightly wider neighbourhood. However not all additional places outside the 'event areas' are those affected by the repeating issue, some may be one-off problems.

The following places are experiencing problems:

  • Birch Street, Northwood;

  • Hordley Street area of Hanley;

  • Fountain Street area of Leek;

  • Stanley Road area of Stanley Moor;

  • Brindley Lane, Baddeley Edge;

  • June Road, Fenton;

  • Carberry Way, Weston Coyney;

  • Foley Road, Longton;

  • Upper Belgrave Road area of Normacot;

  • Rugby Drive area of Dresden;

  • Grosvenor Road, Normacot;

  • Bartholomew Road, Normacot;

Problems across North Staffordshire including two 'area events'
Problems across North Staffordshire including two 'area events'

  • Sandon Road area of Meir;

  • Argosy Close area of Meir;

  • Redhill Gardens, Stone;

  • Fieldsway, Stone;

  • Monks Way, Swynnerton;

  • Cedarhill, Alton;

  • The Avenue, Hartshill;

  • Stanier Street, Newcastle;

  • Wesley Place, Poolfields;

  • Knutton Road area of Wolstanton;

  • Byron Court, Kidsgrove;

  • Chapel Bank, Mow Cop;

What Severn Trent has said

Some residents in North Staffordshire say they have been experiencing these sorts of issues since August - and are well-versed in receiving a text message. The message sent out from Severn Trent to those in the 'area event' in the city and the Moorlands this morning states: "We are really sorry if you are experiencing no water, poor pressure, or discoloured water.

"This is due to an issue with the boosters that pump water around your area. Our engineers are working hard to resolve the issue and get your water back to normal as quickly as possible. We are confident we will have this resolved by 10am."

Following last week's widespread problems, StokeonTrentLive approached Severn Trent over the issues affecting scores of residents. In response the supplier said it was working on a 'long-term fix'.

A spokesperson said: "We would like to offer our sincere apologies to customers in Staffordshire who have experienced intermittent low water pressure or discolouration of their tap water.

"These issues are being caused by a set of pumps which are seeing brief mechanical outages and our teams are working hard to find a long-term fix and prevent any future disruption to customer supplies. We absolutely understand just how inconvenient and disruptive any supply interruption can be and would like to thank everyone for their patience while we resolve this issue."

Today's problems have seen residents regularly affected impacted again, while other areas could be 'one-offs' and not falling within the long-term fix Severn Trent needs to find.

How customers are being compensated

Following the problems between August and September a number of customers were sent letters to let them know that a 'Guaranteed Standards Scheme payment (£30)' was being credited to their accounts. In a letter the provider stated: "We are sorry to let you down when your pressure fell below seven metres.

"Automatic payments are identified through permanent water pressure loggers within our water distribution network and we have noted that your water pressure breached the criteria during this time. The Guaranteed Standards Scheme payment (£30) has been credited to your Seven Trent water services account in recognition of this service failure and will be shown on your next bill."

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