Yorkshire Water has said that it will give its customers in Thorne and Moorends “good will payments” after placing a Boil Water Notice in the area since Saturday which is not expected to be lifted until the end of this week.

Charlie Haysom, Director of Service Delivery at Yorkshire Water, commented: “We understand this situation has been very inconvenient for our customers in Thorne and Moorends, and that’s why we’ve decided to give them a £30 good will payment to thank them for their patience.

“We’re still asking residents to boil their water before drinking or cooking with it, and we hope to return to normal service as soon as possible.”

Customers at approximately 3,600 properties have been told to boil their water before cooking and drinking after high bacteria levels were found in the water last Friday.

Haysom added that the water supplier is still investigating how the incident was caused and continue to focus on the Coulman Industrial Estate as the potential source of the problem.

The instruction to boil water prior to use will stay in place until further sample results have been examined, with the latest results on Sunday described as encouraging.

However, Yorkshire Water is using extreme caution and will not remove the Boil First instruction until new samples show that the water is definitely safe to drink.

The company has been delivering bottled water to the affected areas since the problem was first reported, however a number of people in the affected area have said that they have waited hours for the bottled water without sufficient communication from the supplier.

Elderly residents have been particularly affected by the problem, with some of them having to walk a long way to pick up points.

Thorne Moorends town councillors were at the club to pass messages from Yorkshire Water on to residents and try to keep people calm.