A burst pipe left south Londoners without water for three days, impacting homes, schools, and care facilities.
Homes in SE19, SE23, SE26, SE27, and SW16 are affected. Seven schools and three care homes also have no water. Thames Water has not said when the water will return but says they are working on it constantly.
People are annoyed about the lack of water. This information came from a water station set up in a Sainsbury’s car park at Bell Green.
One man had no water for three days and thought the pipes had frozen at first. He realized it was a widespread problem and didn’t know about the bottled water.
A woman was getting water for herself and neighbors, making multiple trips for supplies. She said water is on and off and that area water pressure has been a long-term issue.
Another person said the water situation is annoying, as it goes on and off for days and the water pressure isn’t strong enough. She had not seen the water point advertised, and added that the hot water isn’t hot enough, either.
A local MP criticized how Thames Water handled things, writing a letter to the company’s CEO and calling their support “poor.” The MP said the water station is hard to reach because it’s in Bell Green, and many don’t have cars, expressing concern for people walking to get water.
The water station closed early one day due to a “security incident.” Some people reported fights over bottled water, as news of free water spread quickly; one man who was not affected by the outage came for free water, admitting he just wanted free bottles.
Thames Water apologized to customers and worked to reroute water into the system. Most properties now have water again, and they continue to deliver water to priority customers. The bottled water station is open at Sainsbury’s on Southend Lane, and their teams are working all day and night, regretting any trouble.