Framlingham and Halesworth left without water for 24 hours

Thousands of people were left without water on Thursday after a main burst near Essex and Suffolk Water's Walpole treatment works, an issue that cut supply off schools and medical practices.

The issues arose on the evening of Wednesday when teams at Essex and Suffolk Water turned off the water supply while they carried out some overnight maintenance, meaning that some were left without water for 24 hours. 

Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham was left without water (Image: Charlotte Bond)

At about 10.40pm on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Essex and Suffolk Water sent an email update to say that the "majority" of properties affected now have access to water. 

READ MORE: Apology from water firm after main bursts and cuts supply to hundreds of homes

"Thanks to the hard work of our operations and water network teams, water supplies, and normal water pressures should now be restored to the majority of properties," read the email.

Some living around the very edge of Halesworth experienced low-pressure water into the early hours of this morning, but the issue has now been fully resolved.

Essex and Suffolk Water removed the burst water main (Image: Essex and Suffolk Water)

The bottled water station that had been running for residents in Halesworth closed after 10pm on Thursday, but teams continued to provide bottled water to priority service customers who needed it overnight.

Essex & Suffolk Water’s water director, Kieran Ingram, said: "We would like to thank our customers for their patience during this fix.

"It was an incredibly complex repair that was slowed down by some really difficult weather conditions and tough circumstances.

"We had some really nice feedback from customers at the bottled water station this evening and we really appreciate customers understanding while we got this matter resolved."