Emergency repair work to a burst water main will take place on Monday by the island’s busiest road junction.

The leaking water pipe is under the Quarterbridge Road right before the junction with the roundabout and the Peel Road.

It is losing 6 litres per second of water which as well as being a waste of water, could erode the base of the road and cause subsidence.

Manx Utilities plan to repair the leak on Monday (December 10) after the morning rush hour.

Temporary 24 hour four-way traffic signals will be in place on the A1 Peel Road at the Quarterbridge roundabouts from 9am onwards to enable the team to carry out the repairs safely.

Because the leak is underground, the full extent, or exact location, of the damage is not yet known until the main is exposed by excavation. A spokeswoman said: 'We suspect the leak is from a 6” cast iron pipe that was laid in 1950.

'If the fault is a minor crack in the main then there is a possibility that we may be able to repair the main and reinstate the road on the same day and we will make every effort to achieve this by putting all our resources to this work.

'In the event that the works take longer we will make every effort to manage the traffic and the traffic light deployment as we can and the work could over-run in Tuesday and beyond if there are significant repairs necessary.’

She added:'Major work of this type is much more difficult in the night and Tarmac is not available after normal working hours. Also the work will cause a lot of noise which would seriously disturb people living in the area when they are trying to sleep.’