THOUSANDS of people saw their water supply turn brown as a major water pipe burst in Wrexham town centre on Monday.

It is estimated around 20,000 people were affected when a 50-inch mains water supply pipe burst underneath Berse Road in Wrexham.

Homes in Wrexham, Cefn, Rhosnesni, Penymynydd, Penyffordd, Hope, Caergwrle and Rhosrobin were affected by the burst.

'I first noticed it on Monday night,' said Dave Hughes, of Queensway in Hope.

'I turned on the taps and the water was a disgusting brown colour.

'I called the Dee Valley Water helpline and heard it was a mains water leak that had affected Wrexham and surrounding area.

'The message said engineers were fixing the problem but in the morning the water was still brown.'

The recorded message also advised people to leave their kitchen taps on to clear the brown water out of the system and not to use water for cooking.

The pipe had burst at 7am. Despite the water surfacing in the grass verge next to the road, the leak was actually under the middle of the road.

It burst near Wrexham Maelor Hospital but the water supply there remained clean throughout.

'It was a major burst that affected a large area,' said a spokesman for Dee Valley Water.

'We had to liaise with Wrexham Council in order to conduct emergency work on the road during the day.

'In the end it was clear we would have to remove and replace the pipe. We re-routed water in the system to provide affected households with water throughout the day.

'Unfortunately, sending the water through pipes the opposite way dislodged some sediment which discoloured the water.

'A lot of people will not drink it because the colour puts them off but if you did drink some do not panic, it is perfectly safe to consume.

'At 8pm we closed the road and lifted the pipe out to replace it. We had a team of engineers working all night to get the job done and at one point the team was nine-strong, including three of our managers who were making sure the work was done as quickly and as well as possible.

'We apologise for any disruption this may have caused customers but there was no specific cause for the burst - sometimes these things just happen.'