Southern Water's Stephanie Davidovitz provided an update on the water outage
Around 58,000 properties across Hampshire were affected by an outage caused by a fault at a water supply plant.
The problem, which began on Wednesday morning, affected large parts of Southampton, Chandler's Ford, Romsey, Totton, Waterside and New Forest.
Nick Adams-King, the leader of Hampshire County Council, said Southern Water had confirmed the scale of the problem at a council briefing.
The company apologized and said the disruptions were likely to continue into the weekend.
Southern Water
Southern Water said the tankers were pumping water directly into the network.
The company said the problem was caused by a “technical problem” at its Testwood water supply plants, resulting in low pressure or loss of water supply.
She added that bottled water stations were being installed and she was continuing to deliver them to customers on her priority list.
Stations have opened at Places Leisure Center – formerly Fleming Park – in Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh and at Lordshill Sainsburys in Southampton.
Southern Water said the tankers were also pumping water directly into the network to help reduce the impact.
Three of them had been dedicated to Southampton General Hospital, which was also affected.
The lack of water has also led to the closure of more than 20 schools, including North Baddesley Infant School and Halterworth in the Test Valley, as well as the New Forest Academy, Cadland Primary School and Wildground in the New Forest and the school Mountbatten Romsey.
Southern Water said it had contacted them all.
Hampshire County Council leader Nick Adams-King called the disruption “damaging and unacceptable”.
Mr Adams-King said the council had been informed “that a problem at the Testwood water treatment plants led to an automated shutdown of the reservoir on Tuesday, December 17, due to water quality issues water”.
He added that:
Around 73,000 properties are supplied by the affected reservoir. 14,500 properties have been “rezoned” by Southern Water. 58,000 properties in the Eastleigh, New Forest and Southampton areas will be affected by loss of supply.
Mr Adams-King said he was “grateful” for the company’s quick action, but described the disruption as “damaging and unacceptable”.
“This is the second year in a row that there has been a water supply problem in the run-up to Christmas,” he said.
“Coincidentally, myself and other local government leaders have a meeting tomorrow with Southern Water. I am sure this will be at the forefront of our thinking and I will be seeking assurances that steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again more.”
A Defra spokesperson said the government was “aware of the water supply issues in Southampton and Marchwood”.
“We are in close contact with Southern Water to ensure the company takes urgent action to support residents and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“The government has just announced reforms to double the compensation water companies give to customers for supply problems like these and, from next year, new investment in water infrastructure. water will enable an essential upgrade of services.”
