Southern Water: 'All supplies back' following massive Hampshire outage
The issue affected around 58,000 households at its peak
Last updated 20th Dec 2024
Supplies have been restored to Southern Water customers in Hampshire after a technical problem at the Testwood works prevented water from leaving the site.
The issue began on Wednesday morning with a company statement saying all properties had supply restored at full pressure just before 2am on Friday.
At its peak, 58,000 homes in Southampton, Romsey, Eastleigh, Totton and parts of the New Forest experienced a loss of water or low pressure.
The statement said the Testwood water works was fully operational and storage reservoirs were refilling, but some customers may notice airlocks and discoloured water when taps are first run.
Deliveries of bottled water continued during the night to households on the Priority Services Register, while three bottled water stations will open in Southampton and Eastleigh as planned at 8am.
Managing director Tim McMahon said: "We are sorry for the disruption caused to customers over the last two days, and would like to thank them for their patience as we worked to restore supply.
"We also apologise to those customers on the Priority Services Register who had to wait an unacceptably long time to receive their water deliveries.
"We'll review this incident carefully and learn the lessons to improve our processes."
Residents are likely to face further frustrations after regulator Ofwat announced Southern Water customers will face a 53% increase in bills over the next five years - significantly higher than the average bill increase of 36% across England and Wales.
One of those affected is Jill Woolger, 66, from Dibden Perlieu near the New Forest, who has been without water since Wednesday morning and is yet to receive any bottled water deliveries despite being on the priority list.
The retired nurse, who has ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune condition affecting her bowels, called the increase in water bill charges "bonkers".
"The fact that we're being stung for the highest increase in water charges... How bonkers is that?" she said.
Ms Woolger tried getting water from local shops and her nearby bottled water station but said the area was "chaotic".
"With regard to what deliveries there were to be able to go to a water station, everywhere was chaotic," Ms Woolger told the PA news agency.
"Everywhere in the local area had completely sold out. There was nothing.
"I ended up phoning, and had to wait for an hour to phone Southern Water and went through on their priority service line. It took an hour to actually speak to somebody, who was really lovely on the phone."
She said the customer service adviser said she would send on her details to the priority service team, but that she received "absolutely nothing now for the rest of the day".
She has criticised Southern Water for its lack of updates about supplies, particularly for priority list customers.
"It's been dire and it's been so out of touch with what is actually happening" she said.
"I think Southern Water needs to answer some really significant questions."
Ms Woolger's water supplies had not returned on Thursday and she said she had around two and half litres worth of water to last her until Friday morning.
Residents queued for up to two hours outside one of four bottle distribution centres at the Asda supermarket in Totton.
Long queues of cars could be seen causing congestion in the surrounding streets, while some had walked for up to three miles to collect their allocation of water.
Tankers were deployed on Wednesday to supply water for Southampton General Hospital.