A NEW power generator has been installed at the York water tower at the heart of the city's burst mains drama in an effort to protect residents from further flooding.

Plans are also being considered to replace the old Severus Water Tower in Acomb with a modern, more efficient underground service reservoir to upgrade the system.

The action by Yorkshire Water follows York's day of water torture after a power cut near the tower caused a water gauge to register zero, which led the monitoring system to believe the tower was empty.

Pumps automatically began to crank up the water pressure to force more water into the tower but this caused 11 mains across the city to burst at "weak points".

Steve Parsley, Yorkshire Water spokesman, said the new generator was fitted on Tuesday.

He said: "Should we have another power cut, which was essentially the root cause of the problems, we have the additional generator to boost our power supplies.

"We have also had plans in the pipeline for a while to decommission the Severus tower to replace it with a service reservoir which we believe could be more efficient. We would expect to make a decision on that this year."

About 2,800 two-litre bottles of water were distributed on Tuesday when 500 homes, two sheltered care homes and Westfield Community Primary School were among those without water.

Six homes in Gale Lane were also flooded either internally or externally.

About 45 Yorkshire Water workers were deployed to the city and the bursts were all repaired by 10.30pm on Tuesday, although the water supply had been restored for many householders by about 8.30pm.

However, another mains burst on East Parade in Heworth overnight on Tuesday and on Ingleton Walk yesterday morning, affecting up to 30 homes.

A further burst in Ratcliffe Street, Clifton, which was repaired on Tuesday also sprang another leak yesterday.

Steve Parsley said: "Our main concern first thing on Tuesday morning was the potential for a large part of York to be without water on what could have been the hottest day of the year.

"It was obviously a very difficult day and a lot of people worked very hard in difficult circumstances.

"Our priority was our customers and by far the majority have been patient and understanding.

"We repeat our apology for any inconvenience caused.

"This was an exceptional set of circumstances which we hope we can work on to ensure there's no repeat."