A burst water main that dramatically reduced water supplies to Bristol Airport last week was caused by a homeowner ripping out a tree.
The big old tree used to stand at the edge of a derelict property known as the White House beside the A38 at Potter’s Hill in Felton.
But it was ripped out on May 15, leaving 600 properties without water and Bristol Airport forced to rely on its reserve water supply.
The local democracy reporting service understands the roots of the tree were wrapped around the 200mm water pipe so tightly that it came away with the tree.
Bristol Water, which supplies water to the area, said it took six hours to repair the water main after it was ripped up at 1.30pm.
The company also had to deploy tankers to top up the airport’s reserve water supplies.
A Bristol Water spokesman said the company was still totting up the cost of the incident and considering whether to seek compensation from the property owner.
It is not clear why the tree was removed from the five-acre property, which lies less than a mile from the airport. The White House itself is boarded up and the owner's details are unavailable.
A spokeswoman for North Somerset Council said no planning applications had been submitted in relation to the property. The tree was not protected so the property owner did not need permission to cut it down.
However, anyone who undertakes any sort of excavation work is encouraged to check whether there are any underground utility lines, such as water pipes and electricity cables, before starting to dig.
A spokesman for Bristol Water said: "Generally people shouldn’t be building or planting anything over our mains. But it would always be advisable to check."
There are hundreds of thousands of kilometres of pipelines and cables supplying water, electricity, gas, high pressure fuel/oil, heating and data running underground across the UK.
Individuals can check whether any of these cross their land by contacting local utility companies or various organisations that provide utility mapping services.
Bristol Airport did not want to comment on the incident, other than to say the disruption had been “minimal”.
A spokeswoman said the airport has reserve tanks on site containing thousands of litres of water for just such emergencies.
