A woman has spoken of her ordeal at being left without running water since Christmas Day as it emerged that Yorkshire Water is still repairing more than 100 burst pipes a day.

Homes across the district have been hit hard by the recent freezing weather, leaving hundreds of people without water thanks to frozen and then burst pipes.

Bradford-based Yorkshire Water has fielded 80,000 calls in the last month compared to the 23,000 it would normally receive. It has completed 2,200 repairs on pipes across the region compared to an expected 600.

Liz Andelin, who lives in a private lane off St Clair Road, in Pool Road, Otley, has not had water since Christmas Day. She said she had been relying on the kindness of neighbours, who were letting them fill up water containers.

She said: “We can’t blame Yorkshire Water for the problem as it’s not their fault the pipes have frozen, and we are on this private lane. But every time we’ve rang up we’ve had to tell the whole story again and been passed from pillar to post.

“There are three houses – although one’s empty at the moment – on the private lane we’re on and none of us have had any water since Christmas.”

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said there was only so much the company could do to help Ms Andelin as she had her own private supply.

“We appreciate that having no water is not a pleasant experience and we are doing all we can to help customers whose private supply pipes have been frozen for a number of days as is the case here,” the spokesman said. “Despite the problem being on the customer’s own private supply pipe, we are doing what we can to help by putting a standpipe onto our water main which will allow the customers to have access to water until they can sort out the problem.”

The spokesman said it has been one of the toughest periods ever for Yorkshire Water. “We would like to thank all customers for their patience and support during the very busy few weeks we have been experiencing due to the cold weather,” he said.

“There has been an enormous amount of hard work from colleagues who have given up their holidays to come to work and deal with the bursts. During a normal holiday period we would have expected to have around 60 people a day working – this year we have had nearly 400 people.”

With temperatures set to drop again this weekend, the spokeswoman warned people to be prepared.