Meet the people working on Christmas Day to keep our water flowing

Welsh Water, a not-for-profit water company in England and Wales, operates 24 hours a day, 365-day-a-year operation in order to deliver its services to about 3.1 million customers.

To keep services running over the festive season, several colleagues from Welsh Water will be carrying out a shift on Christmas Day.

Denise Keenan, customer advisor, said: “I’ll be working from Christmas morning until 1pm in the afternoon supporting the contact centre.

"I haven’t worked a Christmas Day shift before but one year I was on stand-by over the festive season and did end up getting called in on Christmas Day to help. That year there had been a burst pipe in Llanrumney so I came into work to answer customer calls and queries while the frontline teams resolved the issue.

"I’ll be planning to have a late Christmas dinner when I finish my shift before heading back into work at 12pm on Boxing Day.”

Bethan Thomas, Pollution Prevention Technician: “I work for the waste networks team and have worked most Christmases since joining Welsh Water on standby in case of any incidents which can arise from blockages in the network- which often occur at this time of year if fat, oil or grease from Christmas dinners are poured down the drain. Please stop and think and don’t pour anything other than water down the sink to avoid a sewage flood.

"My standby phone will be by my side and I will carry on with my Christmas Day as usual - only without a glass of bubbles.

"As a team, we get through the Christmas period as smoothly as possible and whenever I do get a call from one of the operators or customer resolution officers, hats off to everyone as nobody every complains and they get on with their work as if it was just another day.”

Bethany Miah

Bethany Miah, Apprentice Advisor, said: “This will be my first time ever working on Christmas Day. I’m working from 8am until 2:30pm to receive any customer enquiries and I expect to be helping those who need it most.

"I will ensure to be there for any customers who need help with any emergencies.

"I plan to start enjoying my Christmas once I finish working, so Christmas dinner will have to wait until I’ve finished my shift."

Darren Jones

Darren Jones, Network Technician, said: “I’m covering the on-call rota this Christmas and will get called out if there’s an internal flood, a burst or pollution incident.

"I will be celebrating Christmas lunch by eating Turkey, Sausage and Cranberry sandwiches whilst going for a walk up to a local beauty spot called ‘The Great Orme’ in Llandudno, unless I’m called out that is.”

Peter Perry, chief executive office at Welsh Water, commented: “Providing water and sewage services to more than three million people across Wales and Hereford is an extremely important job. Providing an essential service is a huge responsibility, and one we all feel privileged to undertake on behalf of our customers.

“Our business needs to operate around the clock, every day of the year - it's just part and parcel of delivering such an essential service. I’d like to extend my thanks to all of the people giving up their Christmas Day to provide support to our customers and wish all our colleagues and customers a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.”