SOME residents in parts of St Helens and Prescot lost their water supply this afternoon (Monday).

United Utilities says the issue affected properties in the WA9 and WA10 postcode areas and also the L34 area, due to a "fault" on the mains network.

A statement at 4.25pm said: "Our inspector has attended and found a technical fault on our water mains network in your area which was causing the problem with your water supply. The fault has now been rectified and all supplies are now restored.

"However it may take up to two hours for the water pressure to return to normal levels. We're sorry if this has affected you and thank you for your patience.

"Because there's been some disturbance to the pipes in your area you may notice the water is a little cloudy or discoloured, please check our Discoloured Water page for more information."

An earlier statement released at 2.58pm had read: "You may have noticed that the water is coming out of your tap slower than usual or may have gone off altogether.

"We have one of our inspectors looking into this at the moment and as soon as we know what the cause of the problem is we’ll let you know.

"We’re sorry about this and will try and get your taps flowing normally as quickly as we can.

"We’ll keep you posted as soon as we know what’s causing the problem."