? Hospitals left to rely on fire service for supplies
? Boss defends record after calls for heads to roll
Hospitals in Northern Ireland have had to rely temporarily on the fire service for water and thousands of households remain dry as the utility company warned today that the crisis will last until early next week.
Laurence MacKenzie, the chief executive of Northern Ireland Water faced demands for his resignation after up to 36,000 people were cut off. He said the focus was on getting everyone back on the system rather than his job.
MacKenzie insisted he had been on top of the crisis despite claims that he did not turn up for work until Monday ? several days after the crisis began. He said: "I have been in here since the issue arose. I am doing the best I can to keep the team together."
But Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, said heads should roll. He warned that people needed to be held accountable after pregnant mothers, families with young children and the elderly were left without water for days.
Speaking outside Stormont Castle tonight Northern Ireland's first minister Peter Robinson said NI Water's response was "shambolic" and "ineffective". He said he did not think anyone could suggest that the organisation had "covered themselves in glory".
"People must assess their own position and of course if people don't
assess their own position the (Executive's) review will look at where
responsibility lies and decisions will be taken on the foot of that,"
he added.
That call was also echoed by the small business organisation, the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association.
Tankers from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue service had to be brought in today to supply the South Tyrone area hospital. For a short period water also had to be transported to Lagan Valley hospital after its supplies were cut.
Even the Red Cross had to be called in to deliver bottled water to pensioners' homes.
Northern Ireland's power sharing executive held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis. It is expected it will order an inspection of schools to ensure there is no flooding when the new term starts next week.
Anger towards NI Water was exacerbated after the company said that all supplies would not be connected until early next week.
Trevor Haslett, the director of engineering, said the situation in urban areas particularly the east of the country should be better by later tomorrow.
NI Water announced tonight that supplies to a further 20,000 households or more would suffer restrictions over the next 24 hours in addition to those who have not had water since Christmas Eve .
A statement said: "Due to higher than expected demand there has been an unexpected loss of water to an important service reservoir which serves south Belfast.
"As a result we have had to increase the number of properties with restricted supplies from 33,000 to 58,300."
Businesses, particularly those in the hospitality trade, have claimed the chaos has added to their economic woes following the recession and the big freeze.
The Bayview hotel at Portballintrae on the North Antrim coast has been taking seawater from the Atlantic to help flush its toilets. The manager, Trevor Kane, said it had similar problems this time last year but that nothing was done to avert any repetition.
One famous pub near Belfast's university district has also made contingency plans in case they are cut off over the next 24 hours. Bernard Lavery, the manager at Lavery's bar, said he was hiring in 20 Portaloos for the New Year's Eve weekend. "The last thing we can't afford to do is take any chances with our toilets," he said.
The Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, said the British government would consider financial assistance to those worst affected.
However, he warned there "may have to be changes" to the service. He said: "In the past 25 years there has been very significant investment by private water companies in other parts of the UK, and it's very noticeable that those parts appear to have fewer problems than Northern Ireland."
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