MANY pubs, hotels, households and schools faced a second day without running water today after a burst pipe drained a reservoir, cutting water supplies to thousands across Swindon and North Wiltshire.

Wiltshire businesses have suffered losses as a result of having to close their doors to the public.

Norah Thomas, from the Sally Pussey Inn in Royal Wootton Bassett, said the continued water shortage has forced her to cancel bookings.

“We’ve had to cancel all our lunchtime bookings and, of course, we were closed,” she said.

“It’s difficult because I know there are people in a far worse situation but we’d appreciate an update from Thames Water so we know what to tell our staff and customers.

“It’s a big loss to our business.”

Thames Water said water pressure was slowly returning to all affected locations after the pipe was repaired overnight and was increasing well with Lyneham pumps back on, water going into the system and reservoirs filling steadily.

Sameena Mohammed, of the Marsh Farm Hotel in Royal Wootton Bassett, said staff have had to drastically change the hotel’s menu and field complaints from customers who are unable to shower or have hot meals during their break.

She said: “It’s difficult but you just have to get on with it.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints from customers who are staying here but they don’t seem to realise there’s nothing we can do.

“As a hotel we weren’t a priority for water so we’ve had to get that in ourselves to ensure customers can wash and flush the toilet.

“We had 60 people in last night and 72 booked for this evening so I’m praying it comes back on before then or I don’t know what we’ll do.”

An estimated 500 homes across Wootton Bassett and Lyneham were without water or experiencing low pressure this morning.

Thames Water said it had received an estimated 200 calls since 7am.

The number of calls had decreased from one a minute to four to six an hour by the afternoon.

Water supplies ran dry after levels at the Flaxlands Reservoir, Royal Wootton Bassett, started to fall just before midnight on Monday.

Thames Water had initially said water supply would be reconnected yesterday evening with engineers working throughout the night at the pipe location in Braydon village to restore a fully-functioning water supply.

However businesses, homes and schools in the Wootton Bassett and Lyneham area were still cut off this morning.

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy has remained closed for a second day after water pressure failed to improve overnight.

George Croxford, head teacher at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy said the continued water shortage has come at a critical time for the school’s 1,800 students

“We thought the water was going to come back on yesterday but all we have so far is a trickle," he said.

"I’ll be honest I’m very worried because we have GCSEs and A-levels coming up and we’re trying to figure out a solution if in the worst-case scenario the water does not come back."

The Sun Inn at Lydiard Millicent, which was used as a bottle drop point for cut-off customers had its water supply reconnected on Monday.

Bottled water was sent out at 7am this morning to the Lyneham Express shop (on the A3102 Lyneham (opposite Teal Avenue) and the Borough Fields car park in Royal Wootton Bassett.

Members of the Wiltshire Council Highways staff have assisted in the distribution of bottled water with the hubs expected to remain open until at least 10pm.

Vulnerable people were still being checked upon by Thames Water to make sure that they have enough access to water.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry to those people who still have no water this morning.

"Our team worked through the night to repair the burst pipe but it will now take several hours for water pressures to return to their usual levels.

"We’ll continue to provide bottled water at collection points outside Tesco in Lyneham and Sainsburys in Wootton Bassett for as long as necessary.”