Thousands of residents without water as major incident declared in Guildford
Residents living in the Guildford area have little to no water supply
A major incident has been declared in parts of Surrey, leaving thousands of residents with little to no water.
Surrey County Council made the decision to declare the incident in the Guildford environs, which has affected thousands of people living in the area.
Thames Water, who provides water supplies to the area apologised for the disruption, setting up bottled water stations in Crown Court car park in Godalming, as well as Artington Park and Ride on Old Portsmouth Rd in the town.
In a statement provided on their website, Thames Water said that the lack of supply was caused to problems discovered at the Shalford water treatment centre in the wake of Storm Ciarán.
The company added that engineers are already at the site, working to get the supply fixed. They also added that tankers have been drafted in to help refill the water network as quickly as possible.
Local MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt kept constituents updated, taking to Twitter to say that Thameswater CEO Al Cochrane had said the company was reprogramming and resetting the control system.
Hunt said that should the resetting have gone to plan, the issue will be fixed and water supply will return quickly.
He added that as a result of the water supply problems, there may be a knock-on effect for schools, if the issue is not resolved in time for pupils to return to the classroom on Monday morning (November 6th).
Local businesses have been speaking out at the lack of water, with pubs in the area claiming they are losing trade due to closing earlier as a result of the supply problems. Hunt said this would have a "big, big impact on many people".