Welsh Water has said the repair of a burst water main which has affected drinking water across a large area of north Pembrokeshire has been completed.

But the company said work was continuing to restore supplies.

At 11.30am the company issued a further update: "Our team has been working throughout the night and has completed the repair on the burst water main near Pontrhydyceirt in west Wales.

"We sincerely apologise to customers who are without water in Crymych, Boncath, St Dogmaels, Tegryn, Moelgrove and Nevern.

"We have begun refilling the local network. However, we need to do this carefully and at a steady speed as refilling too fast can damage the pipes and cause further bursts. 

"Whilst water supplies will begin to go back to normal during the afternoon, it will take longer to fill the whole water network. This is not unusual in rural areas and water supplies should be restored by this evening. 

"We are continuing to distribute bottled water at Crymych rugby club (SA41 3RQ), The Salutation Pub in Felindre (SA41 3UY), and the car park opposite the Penybryn Arms (SA43 3NJ), for those customers still affected. We are also tankering water into key parts of the network to maintain supplies. 

"As supplies return to normal, this may result in discoloured water for a period of time. This is not unusual after an incident of this nature and should clear within a short period of time. We would like to assure customers we are working as quickly as possible to restore supplies to normal.

"We apologise again for the inconvenience that this burst has caused.  
If anyone has concerns about their water supply, we would ask they call our helpline on 0800 052 0130. 

"Further updates are also available via Twitter (@dwrcymru).

"For customers who are deaf or hard of hearing and have the use of a textphone/Minicom, please ring us on 0800 052 4125."
 

School closures:

Ysgol y Frenni Primary School in Crymych will remain closed today (Thursday) for a second day due to an interruption to its water supply.

Although the school has stocks of bottled water, there is no water available to flushing toilets or for hand-washing.
 

Ysgol Clydau in Tegryn, Pembrokeshire, is closing this morning (Thursday, 5th November) and for the remainder of the day because of water supply problems.

Transport is being arranged for children who normally use school transport while the parents of other pupils are being contacted and asked to collect their children.