Mains fix under way as outage affects London homes

Thousands of homes across five south London boroughs and two Surrey boroughs should have their water supply restored soon following a burst water main, Thames Water has said.

The company said its engineers were working on a permanent repair after isolating the burst main in West Molesey.

Thames Water initially said 15,000 properties were affected in postcode areas across Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton and Wandsworth in London, as well as Elmbridge and Spelthorne in Surrey.

Thames Water apologised for the outage and said some customers may still experience low water pressure. A bottled water station is set to open later but the location has not been confirmed yet.

Thames Water said it had "rerouted water around the area", and customers should see their water return shortly.

It said an estimated 15,000 properties were impacted on Monday morning but that fell to 6,000 as works on the broken pipe began.

"We are sorry for this morning's outage and would like to thank customers for the patience they have shown," a spokesperson said.

"A bottled water station will still be opened this afternoon for customers who require it and we will share its location once it is confirmed.

"Our engineers remain at the site and are working on a permanent repair."

Kathy, from East Molesey, said her water supply was disrupted and football pitches near her home were flooded.

"I woke up very early this morning and the water pressure was low so I filled a load of saucepans. It went off altogether at about 9am," she said.

Kathy, who was recently given Thames Water-branded rubber ducks at a summer fair in Surbiton, described the plastic toys as a "waste of money" and placed them on the flooded football pitch on Monday to illustrate her dissatisfaction.

Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon, south London, said he had contacted Thames Water for more information after reports of the water outage across Wimbledon, New Malden, Raynes Park and Morden, in south London. He told followers on X that he would share any updates he received.

Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, Surrey, said: "We need an urgent response from Thames Water to get water supplies back on as soon as possible and to protect vulnerable communities.

"Once the water is flowing again, we need to establish exactly what happened and why.

"My worry is that decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidences like this.

"Right now, however, the priority must be getting water back in our taps."

Luke Taylor, MP for Sutton and Cheam, said Thames Water was "no longer fit for purpose", adding: "Every day Thames Water loses 228 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water through leaks.

"Most of the time this slow drip of leaks across London costs us money and wastes energy, but today the huge burst pipe in West Molesey means carers can't wash their loved ones, businesses are shut and schools are closed."

Two schools in Surrey said they had to close due to a lack of water on Monday.

Thames Water said that bottled water would be delivered to customers registered as water-dependent on its Priority Services Register.

The organisation said the following postcodes may be affected: CR4, KT1, KT10, KT12, KT2, KT3, KT5, KT6, KT7, KT8, SM4, SW16, SW17, SW18, SW19, SW20, TW10, TW16.

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