Severn Trent Water has shed more light on how its engineers went about battling a catastrophic leak in Cheltenham which left thousands with dry taps over Sunday and Monday.
Not one but two burst pipes contributed to the A40 outside GCHQ being flooded and bottled water being shipped in for families across the GL52 postcode to access.
The first problems surfaced on Sunday morning and prompted a warning to motorists to try and avoid one of the main routes into the town, such was the scale of the flooding on the dual-carriageway between the Arle Court and Benhall roundabouts.
It later emerged a second pipe had burst, making repair work doubly difficult.
The first burst pipe was beneath the road outside GCHQ, the second on Badgeworth Road, further down the A40.
A Severn Trent spokeswoman said the second burst also made redirecting water supplies down undamaged pipes to people’s homes tricky and that took longer than they wanted.
"Our teams worked through the night until everyone was back on."
The first customers had water restored at about 9pm on Sunday evening with others following on Monday morning.
Such was the demand from the thousands of households for water at that point that pressure dropped significantly.
Repair work to the two burst pipes then took place throughout Monday and the system was restored to normal in the evening.

MONTROSE, MI — A boil water advisory has been lifted for all Montrose residents.
The city of Montrose announced Wednesday morning the boil advisory issued Monday, Aug. 27 following a drop in pressure in a water main along M-57 has expired.
Sam Spence, the city’s Department of Public Works director, said a pressure relief valve in the master pit feeding the city closed sometimes between 11:30 p.m. Sunday night and 12:30 a.m. Monday morning.
"The master pit is the underground vault where the meter is located for the inlet line from Genesee County that feeds the city of Montrose," said Spence.
Complicating the situation was a lightning strike during a thunderstorm over the weekend to a power box that controls a supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, system to monitor pressure.
As a workaround, Montrose DPW employees installed a gauge on a hydrant and took on three-hour shifts to monitor the pressure, Spence said.
Spence responded around 12:45 a.m. Aug. 27 and opened a bypass valve to allow the system to regulate pressure.
The pressure gauge was reading 17 pounds at the master pit, Spence noted.
"Therefore I felt it was in our residents’ best interest to issue the boil advisory until I could properly sample the drinking water," said Spence in an Aug. 28 email to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials.
Spence said the pressure relief valve and monitoring system also have been repaired and replaced.

More water worries for Venice residents this week as the City of Venice Utilities needs to prepare for a valve and hydrant replacement project.
This comes while the Island of Venice is still under a Boil Water Advisory related to a water main break over the weekend.
These water concerns are NOT connected to that break.
Here is the latest information on this week’s water shutdowns happening this week from Venice officials: OT a boil water advisory) There is a trial shutdown ongoing today (Monday, April 10), with intermittent service through 3:30 p.m., due to a city field crew preparing for the Valve/Hydrant Replacement Project (Phase 12).
The area affected is: all of Marcus St., 723 to 735 Eagle Point Dr. • (*NOT a boil water advisory) There will be trial shutdown on Tuesday, April 11, with intermittent service from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., due to a city field crew preparing for the Valve/Hydrant Replacement Project (Phase 12).
The area affected will be: 1100 Block of Lakes of Capri, 927 to 935 Capri Isles Blvd.
• (*NOT a boil water advisory) There will be trial shutdown on Wednesday, April 12, with intermittent service from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., due to a city field crew preparing for the Valve/Hydrant Replacement Project (Phase 12).
The outage is because of a work on the Water Main Replacement Project (Phase 4).
These customers WILL be under a boil water notice.
The area affected will be: • Serata St. and Riviera St. (from San Marco Dr. to Fiesole St.) • San Marco Dr. • Piazza Di Luna • Fiesole St. (from Serata St. to Riviera St.) • 805 Riviera St.