Southampton water outage to last until the weekend, firm says
Around 58,000 properties in Hampshire are affected by power outages caused by faulty waterworks.
The problem is, Starting on Wednesday morning, Southampton, Chandler’s Ford, Romsey, Totton, Waterside and much of the New Forest were affected.
Hampshire County Council leader Nick Adams-King said Southern Water confirmed the extent of the problem at a council briefing.
The company apologized and said the outage could last into the weekend.
Southern WaterThe outage comes as households await news Thursday morning of rising water bills.
Water regulator Ofwat is expected to announce that water bills in England and Wales will rise by more than 20% over the next five years.
Southern Water said the problems in Hampshire were caused by “technical issues” at its Testwood water plant, which resulted in low pressure or disruptions to the supply.
The company added that bottled water stations are being set up and will continue to provide bottled water to customers on the priority list.
Stations open at Places Leisure Center on Passfield Avenue in Eastleigh (formerly Fleming Park) and Lordshill Sainsburys in Southampton .
Southern Water said tankers were also pumping water directly into the network to help reduce the impact.
Three of them were dedicated to Southampton General Hospital, which was also affected.
The water shortage has also led to the closure of more than 20 schools, including North Baddesley Infant School and Halterworth in Test Valley, as well as New Forest Academy, Cadland Primary School and Wildground, and Mountbatten school Romsey.
Southern Water said everyone had been contacted.
Mr Adams-King said the council had been informed that “an issue at the Testwood Water Treatment Plant resulted in the automatic closure of the reservoir on Tuesday 17 December due to water quality concerns”.
He added:
- The affected reservoirs provide water to approximately 73,000 properties
- Southern Water has ‘rezoned’ 14,500 properties
- 58,000 properties in Eastleigh, New Forest and Southampton areas will be affected by supply losses
Mr Adams-King said he was “grateful” to the company for its swift action but called the disruption “devastating and unacceptable”.
“This is the second year in a row that there have been water supply issues in the run-up to Christmas,” he said.
“Coincidentally, I and other local government leaders are having a meeting with Southern Water tomorrow and I’m sure this will be at the forefront of our consideration and I will be asking them to commit to taking action to ensure this never happens again.”
A Defra spokesman said the government was “aware of the water supply issues in Southampton and Marchwood”.
“We are liaising closely with Southern Water to ensure the company takes urgent steps to support residents and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“The government has just announced reforms to double the compensation water companies offer customers for supply issues like this, and further investment in water infrastructure will provide a much-needed upgrade to services from next year.”
