Looking Back, with Eric Leaver

THE bone-dry summer of 1959 had already set records for sunshine and lack of rain by the time that autumn approached.

Yet the water crisis that already gripped East Lancashire, forcing householders in East Lancashire to forego baths and using their washing machines as the water pressure was reduced, was to get even worse.

On September 12, Burnley's 28th successive dry day, the council announced that domestic supplies would be shut off from 6pm to 6am every day. The upshot was the town's shops were besieged by people seeking buckets, bowls, bins and, indeed, anything that would hold water as an instant hoarding instinct gripped consumers

At last, on the 21st, the rain came - 0.41 inches of it - notionally ending what had become the region's longest drought in 80 years. Normally, that would have put 24million gallons, almost a week's supply, in the drained reservoirs of Burnley.

But to meet demand, the reservoirs of the East Lancashire towns in the Calder Valley needed 20million gallons a day and those covered by the Irwell Valley Water Board needed double that.

The situation remained as acute as ever because most of the rain that fell was simply soaked up in the dust-dry ground. And , then, the heatwave returned as September expired. East Lancashire had its hottest October weekend on record as the temperature climbed to 78 degrees. Accrington cut the pressure in its water pipes by half as supplies fell to 23 days.

In Darwen, Jack's Key Lodge, the main supply for two paper mills and the Relief Decorations branch of Wall Paper Manufacturers, dried up for the first time since 1937.

Water tankers and carts were supplying homes in Rossendale, where just 11 days' supply was left in the reservoirs even though supplies to households were interrupted by "lightning cuts".

These were introduced because the water board said people could not be trusted to be sensible and not hoard water.

But in Accrington the council announced that the public's "splendid response" to save-water appeals had earned a reprieve from more severe restrictions.

In Burnley there was no such respite.

After 56 days without any real rain, Operation Standpipe commenced on October 14 as the first of 250 standpipes went up in the streets and the water to 33,000 homes began to be cut off completely. Though it was the only town in the North to undergo these emergency measures, householders in Blackburn and Bacup were warned that they, too , might get standpipes "unless it absolutely poured down soon." In Burnley, the council appealed to Scout groups to help carry water to people who were to old or infirm to take part in the bucket-run to and from the standpipes.

Those in dark places were daubed with luminous paint to help householders locate them.

By the second day of the operation, half the town's homes had been cut off and there was grim irony for those forced to queue at the standpipes - for they did so in a steady downpour.

Indeed, the rain had set in to the extent that, five days later, the levels in the town's reservoirs had gone up by 18 inches.

But, despite two inches of rainfall in under a week, still the emergency went on.

The standpipes, the council said, would remain for a "long time." Householders were furious at getting drenched as they trudged to and fro with buckets while at the same time the town hall was sending out water rate demands.

By the ninth day of the crisis, the town's businessmen were demanding a government inquiry.

Fate responded the following day with rain so heavy that householders in parts of Blackburn had to protect their homes with sandbags to prevent them being flooded.

Burnley's Swindon No.1 reservoir, previously empty for six whole weeks, was filled with 13ft of water and in the town's largest reservoir at Hurstwood, where the level had dropped by 63ft, the area covered by water increased four-fold.

The following day, on October 28, the taps went back on in Burnley - though homes were still cut off between 6pm and 6am before the restrictions ended.

And in Rossendale, where firms had been cut off for seven weeks, the crisis was also declared to be over at last.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.