Hampshire water supply: Southern Water says 3,500 people affected and problems will last until the weekend

The failure on Wednesday saw, at its worst point, about 14,000 without water.

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As more customers are ‘rezoned’ that number has dropped but the company estimates that 3,500 people still having nothing coming through the taps. It affects south Winchester, Eastleigh, Hedge End and Southampton.

Today there are bottled water stations open at

South Winchester Park and Ride, SO21 2FG Cantell School, Violet Road, Southampton SO16 3GJ Places Leisure in Eastleigh, SO50 9NL

The affected postcodes have included SO15, SO16, SO18, SO19, SO21, SO22, SO30, SO31, SO32, SO50, SO51 and SO53.

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A message from Southern Water said: ‘Our ongoing rezoning work has gone well and more customers are waking up to water supply. This will continue to be intermittent at peak times however please don’t worry, this will return as the network refills. If you leave your house during the day, please ensure that all taps are switched off to avoid accidental flooding.

‘We still have 3,500 customers without water and we’re really sorry for the ongoing distress and inconvenience this is causing.

‘Work at our Otterbourne water supply works has continued and the work to drain, clean and disinfect the treatment process affected is now complete.The next stage is to undertake extensive water quality testing before we allow water back into main supply. There are stringent quality standards that we must maintain and that is why this will take time. If everything goes to plan, we expect the network to be stabilised and quality tested tomorrow.’

Portsmouth Water customers are not affected.

Just before Christmas, many areas of the south of England – including parts of Hampshire, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent – were have without a water supply for about a week and had to use water from bottle stations. Water companies across the country said the rapid change in temperature – nearly 20C difference in some places – caused many pipes to burst.