A young family from Trecwn say they, and other residents, are stuck between a rock and a hard place due to problems with their water supply.

Alex and Luke Pieniak bought their house on Barham Road in 2016, moving in with their two young daughters in 2017.

The road itself is privately owned by the Valley, Trecwn, and the family, along with 34 other houses, pays £45 a month to the company which manages the former RNAD base for their private water supply.

The couple said that since July last year their water had had a strong smell of chlorine, getting far worse from December.

“As soon as you turn on the tap it smells like a swimming pool,” said law student Alex. “We were told that the water had been tested and it was fine but residents contacted Natural Resources Wales and Pemrokeshire County Council.”

Tests on the water in February this year showed iron levels of 1,800. The legal permitted limit is 200. The colour of the water also failed the maximum permitted limit for drinking water under the Private Water Supplies (Wales) Regulations 2017.

Last month’s tests, made on behalf of Pembrokeshire County Council, showed the situation had got worse with the iron reading increasing to 1,900.

The couple say that the council will not get involved until the levels have exceeded 2000.

For the last three weeks Barham Road residents have been given bottled drinking water but say that the amount delivered has decreased and is now not enough for a family. They added that it is not healthy to use the water for bathing.

“They say iron coats your skin,” said Alex. “Our neighbour has been experiencing eczema flare ups, another neighbour has a new baby and there are lots of elderly residents.”

The couple say that residents were experiencing health problems until the bottled water deliveries.

“A lot of people have been ill,” said Alex. “I was really ill, I had all the symptoms of a UTI but when they tested me, that wasn’t the cause. I stopped drinking the water and the symptoms stopped. Other people have suffered from stomach cramps.”

The couple are frustrated that there has been no official communication from the company about the water supply or a long-term solution.

“We haven’t had anything from them about the water,” said Luke, who is part of Brawdy’s 14 Signals Regiment. “It would be nice to be informed. The only time you hear from them it is when you ring up to complain.”

The family have been told that the pipework for the 35 houses is 80 years old and needs replacing but this will involve digging up the road and residents may have to bear the costs. Again a lack of information is frustrating them.

“They say that we will have to pay up front,” said Luke. “But we don’t even know how much it would cost. If we did, we could look at setting up a payment plan or we could look at raising the money.

“This has all put such a downer on buying our first home.”

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said that the authority was investigating a complaint from a resident of Barham Road Trecwn relating to the water supply as a public health matter.

Huw Davies, whose company RDW Services manages the Trecwn site said: “I am aware that a small number of residents in Barham Road have recently expressed concern with regard to the water quality at their properties. “The comments we have received to date have been inconsistent as have some of the unofficial and private test results published on social media.

“We are currently looking in to this and other matters relating to Barham Road and will inform residents of the position at the earliest possible convenience.

“However, it must be stated that the water being supplied from the valley to householders is below the WHO guideline and as such we do not believe there to be a risk to health.

“There is no further comment to be made at this time.”