Residents in Highbridge say the town has been poorly treated by Bristol Water during this week’s water supply issues.
Resident Alan Miller, who was among a group of volunteers at Highbridge Furniture Shop who wanted to help distribute water to needy locals, said: “We tried to get water supplies for hours and couldn’t get any despite many phone calls to Bristol Water.”
“It’s disgraceful when Burnham had water supplies brought in within a short period of time at the Tesco car park while people at Asda waited until almost 8pm for the first supplies to arrive.”
And Highbridge town councillor Helen Groves added: “I tried to address the very poor organisation of Bristol Water and the total lack of provision to Highbridge by getting water to people identified as vulnerable, many of whom contacted me directly in distress with new born babies and very elderly and frail people.”
“What I found was utter obstructiveness from Bristol Water, who were not getting supplies to people who couldn’t stand in line for hours and who would not give water to people who were willing to deliver it. In the end I had to buy water to give to people – and even that was in very short supply.”
Several residents in Highbridge were also unhappy at having to queue for over four hours for water outside the town’s Asda store.
Christine Foey told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “No-one seems to know what is going on – the organisation by Bristol Water has been terrible. They kept saying water is coming which went on for hours, only for us to be told at the front of the queue that we then need to go and find a water botte or container!”
But the water company attracted praise from several other residents who said it had been operating in an emergency situation and handled the incident well.
