Farmers in Shropshire fear livestock fatalities if water shortages are not fixed

People living in Cockshutt near Ellesmere have been unable to access water for the last day on one of the hottest days of the year.

The farmers could not get water to their livestock on a day which has seen temperatures hit 30 degrees.

Those in the community claim appeals for help from Severn Trent took too long to be dealt with, and when residents phone up, they reported being passed from one person to the next.

David Carr, who works the land at Crosemere Farm, said he believes the problem is with a local reservoir.

He said: "The reservoir which supplies our village had been drained for repairs, and the work has not been completed.

"Usually, it is full of water, but we have to get our water from Oswestry at the moment.

"Nobody seems to know who to speak to, they know there is a problem, but nothing seems to be being done about it.

"With livestock, if they have a day or two without water in this heat it could lead to fatalities."

Engineers were at the site on Monday dealing with the problems but the extent of the shortage varies between homes.

Some residents say they have not had water at all, whereas others have had a sporadic water supply, and some have been unaffected.

Nicola Marsh, who owns livestock on one of the farms, says it has reached a crisis point.

The 48-year-old said: "We are currently trying to work out how to provide water for our livestock, and this is a massive problem.

"At the house, we have a bit of a trickle, but it's barely enough to brush your teeth.

"It has not been good for a few weeks now, and all I get from Severn Trent is an automated response.

"In the meantime, we have cattle without water, and it is the hottest day of the year.

"It has reached a crisis point."

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: "We’re really sorry to customers in the Cockshutt area who have been experiencing low or no water supply. This has been caused by a combination of essential maintenance on the network, as well as high demand - whilst we've got plenty of water to go around, it's being used up quickly.

"Our teams are working hard to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible, and in the meantime, we’re looking into ways to get water directly into the network using tankers.

"Again, we would like to apologise to anyone whose water supply may be impacted, and we would like to reassure everyone that we are doing everything we can to get this issue resolved."