‘Large burst water main’ cuts supplies across south London and Surrey

A “large burst water main” is affecting water supply in south London and Surrey, leaving thousands of homes with no water or low pressure, Thames Water has said.

In an update on its website on Monday morning, the company said its specialist team was “on site and working to stop the water flooding from the broken pipe” in West Molesey, Surrey.

It said the issue would take “some time” to fix because of the location of the fault.

Thames Water said up to 15,000 properties were initially affected by the issue, later adding the number had fallen to 6,000.

Thames Water said the issue would take ‘some time’ to fix (Thames Water/PA)

PA Media

Customers in the following postcodes were impacted: CR4, KT1, KT10, KT12, KT2, KT3, KT5, KT6, KT7, KT8, SM4, SW16, SW17, SW18, SW19, SW20, TW10 and TW16.

Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, Surrey, told the Press Association: “We need an urgent response from Thames Water to get water supplies back on as soon as possible and to protect vulnerable communities.

“Once the water is flowing again, we need to establish exactly what happened and why.

“My worry is that decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidences like this.

“Right now, however, the priority must be getting water back in our taps.”

The MP said on X that she was “pushing for an urgent response” as her constituency was affected by the issue.

Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon, south London, said he had reached out to Thames Water after reports of a water outage across Wimbledon, New Malden, Raynes Park and Morden, in south London.

Some people posted on X saying they had woken up to no water on Monday morning.

“We have no running water,” one user said, before adding: “I just want a shower and a cup of tea. Thames Water want their bonuses.”

Replying to Ms Harding’s post, another user said the outage was “having a huge impact already”.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Our engineers are making progress on repairing the burst in Molesey but it is likely to take some time to complete.

“We are rerouting water in the area to reduce the impact on customers while we work to fix the burst. Customers in Surbiton should be seeing their supply return although the pressure may be lower than usual.

“Water deliveries are being made to customers who are on our priority services register. We will be opening bottled water stations this afternoon and will provide their locations once confirmed.

“We believe up to 15,000 properties were affected this morning and that has now been reduced to 6,000. We again would like to say sorry to our customers and reassure those who are still affected that we are working to restore their water supply as quickly as possible.”

The spokesperson said further updates would be posted on the company’s website.