A CHESTER father has spoken of his frustration after being left with no water for almost a week.
Justin Davies, of Pearl Lane, Vicars Cross, said he and his family have been unable to take baths or wash clothes at their home ever since their water main stopped working on Christmas Day.
They had called the emergency line for Dee Valley Water straight away but were told they would have to wait until after Boxing Day before an inspection team could come to fix the problem.
However, Mr Davies said no-one had yet visited the property and his heating had also stopped working because the water pressure in their boiler had dropped.
He said he was especially concerned for his one-year-old daughter and his wife who is five months pregnant.
"It is so frustrating," he said. "We are now on the fourth day without any access to fresh water. We have been going to my in-laws to take baths and whenever we need water."
Justin added: "We received a call from a Dee Valley operative at about 8pm last night asking if our water was back on. He was surprised that it was not.
"They informed us that if pipes are exposed to low temperatures then they may freeze.
“We have tried to warm the internal pipes by the stop cock, turn the stop cock off and on with the taps open and every other piece of advice offered. I was also informed on Christmas and Boxing Day that the good news was that the weather was due to warm up over the next couple of days.
"I can understand they have been busy over Christmas but this has been a huge inconvenience. We were due to have about 40 members of my family here on Boxing Day, but we had to transfer that to my mother and father-in-laws."
Managing director of Dee Valley Water, Norman Holladay, said they had been receiving an unprecedented number of calls over the Christmas period.
He said: "We had freezing conditions followed by a thaw.
“Our staff have continued to work over the holiday period.
“We have tried not to promise what we can't achieve.
“The line we're putting out is: we'll put you on the list and get to you as soon as we can.
"We are aware there are a number of people that have been without water since before Christmas but we are coming to them as soon as we can.
"We just ask for our customers’ patience in this matter and if anyone does have a leak perhaps they could report it to Dee Valley Water."