Water supplies finally restored.

Thousands of families and businesses in Northumberland breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after their water supplies were restored after 48 hours.

Northumbrian Water said all 10,000 customers cut off from early on Monday morning had their taps running again by lunchtime yesterday.

NW staff will now launch an investigation into how three separate bursts happened on the same 18in main taking water from treatment works to service reservoirs in south-east Northumberland.

The leaks left families in parts of Bedlington, Cramlington, Morpeth, Seaton Delaval, Seaton Sluice, Choppington, Nedderton and other villages having to rely on emergency supplies from street tanks and bottle distribution points.

Yesterday NW said it felt it had done everything possible to deal with the crisis and had worked around the clock to get people back on supply. Spokeswoman Cara Hall said: "We have suffered three different mains leaks in two days but despite that we have managed to get everyone's water back on today. As a company we have done everything we could to keep people informed and get them alternative supplies. What happened is very, very unusual and we will now be investigating what caused these three bursts."