Residents and businesses asked to conserve water in Picton

On Thursday one of the two supplies providing water to Picton - the pipe from Barnes Dam to Essons Valley treatment plant - was damaged by a possible slip.

As a result the Essons Valley treatment plant has been offline since late yesterday afternoon.

Operations and Maintenance Engineer Stephen Rooney said: “Our capacity to supply water to Picton today is significantly reduced.”

“We have already repaired the pipe but re-starting the treatment plant will take some time – at least the rest of today – and our water storage is depleted. “Whilst we do this we request that residents and commercial users in Picton reduce their water consumption.”

“Demand for water over the last few days has been high with hotter weather, but cooler weather over the coming weekend will help.”

Picton’s water supply comes from two sources - Speeds Road water treatment plant and Essons Valley water treatment plant. The Essons Valley supply is generally supplementary during peak periods.