TWO Wirral schools have been forced to close due to a lack of water on site, but United Utilities say supplies are slowly improving.

Higher Bebington Junior School and Ridgeway High School (Noctorum) are all shut today. It is unknown whether they will reopen tomorrow.

United Utilities said the broken pipe which caused the problem was repaired yesterday afternoon and the supply in the affected areas began to return last night and will continue to do so throughout today.

Some customers may notice their water pressure is weaker than normal, while pressure builds back up in the network. The company has been routing water supplies from other sources into the area and continues to use a fleet of water tankers to pump extra supplies in to help the situation.

On Saturday night, people across social media reported having issues with their water supply in Prenton, Higher Bebington and Birkenhead.

The postcodes affected are CH41, CH42, CH43 and CH63.

While the situation improves, free bottled water is still available at the following locations:

– Sainsburys, 342 Woodchurch Road, CH42 8PQ

– Tranmere Rovers FC, CH42 9PY

– The Oval, Bebington, CH63 7LF

Yesterday, the LDRS went to Tranmere Rovers FC and saw hundreds of cars queuing to get as much bottled water as they could.

Despite the inconvenience, locals were grateful for the effort United Utilities had made to address the situation.

Denise Smith, who lives locally, said: “It’s a bit awkward for me, but my concern is for people who can’t get out, those who aren’t capable.

“It isn’t their [United Utilities] fault, these things happen. My water has been out since 8pm last night, i’ve heard other people have had their water out since then.

Gary Wakefield, from near Prenton, said: “My son’s just played rugby and he needs a shower, obviously he can’t do that if there’s no water.

“It was ok at 1am last night, but then it went off. But these things happen, at least they’re making an effort.”

Updating the public on the situation, Kevin Fowlie, network delivery director at United Utilities, said: “We’re grateful to everyone for their patience while we’ve been tackling this tricky issue. It has taken time for us to get the treatment works back online after the repairs were completed on Sunday.

“That’s because we had to be certain it was treating water to the high standard we expect before we put it into the supply network, and the testing process takes some time.

“The treatment works is now back up and running and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience. We continue to monitor the situation closely.”