Supply issue - Southampton and Eastleigh

All properties in Hampshire saw their water return at 2am this morning and we’ve had no further issues since.

Some customers may notice airlocks in their pipes. This is normal and if running taps does not resolve it then please contact us on 0330 303 0368.

As customers see their water return, it’s really normal to experience temporary changes to the water. Here is a reminder on what to expect when your water returns.

Our three bottled water stations remain open but are quiet due to customers seeing their mains water supply return.  The bottled water locations are:

Proactive bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register have now stopped, however, we have a team of drivers in the area that will reactively deliver water to customers suffering from airlocks or any other supply issues.

Thank you for your continued patience. We will provide our next update at 1.30pm.

Work continued through the night and from 2am all customers in the affected areas of Hampshire had their water supply back with full pressure.

Some customers may notice airlocks in their pipes. This is normal and if running taps does not resolve it then please contact us.

As customers see their water return, it’s really normal to experience possible discolouration and other changes to your water. This is temporary. Here is a reminder on what to expect when your water returns.

To make sure the water supply remains stable today, as a precaution we are opening three bottled water stations at 8am. Their locations are:

Bottled deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register will also continue.

Please see below a message from Tim McMahon, Managing Director for Water at Southern Water:

"We are sorry for the disruption caused to customers over the last two days, and would like to thank them for their patience as we worked to restore supply. We also apologise to those customers on the Priority Services Register who had to wait an unacceptably long time to receive their water deliveries. We'll review this incident carefully and learn the lessons to improve our processes."

Thank you for your continued patience. We will provide a further update at 10am.

We’re making progress in returning water to as many customers as possible, and we're working through the night to increase the number of properties back in supply.

Here is a reminder on what to expect when your water returns.

Alternative water supplies

Bottled water deliveries to our Priority Services Register customers will continue overnight.

We have two bottled water stations remaining open until midnight tonight, and we will be reopening three sites at 8am tomorrow morning (Friday 20 December).

Please see below the locations and opening/closing times for our bottled water stations.

Thank you for your continued patience while we return water to all customers.

Next update 7am tomorrow.

We’re continuing to bring more customers back into supply and 38,800 (67%) properties have seen their water return. This number is increasing steadily and will continue to do so throughout the night.

Find out What to expect when your water returns. 

Earlier this evening, our Managing Director for Water Tim McMahon was interviewed on BBC South Today, explaining what has happened and our continued efforts to restore supplies ASAP.

Watch it here.

Restoring water supply

We’re continuing to focus our efforts on restoring water to customers impacted in Hampshire, with 31,000 properties now seeing supplies return. This is 53% of the total number of homes that lost supply.

Some customers will temporarily see a lower pressure than normal as we fill up our network. 

If your water is back on, you may also notice the water isn’t completely clear to begin with. This is completely normal. Find out what to expect when your water returns – What to expect when your water returns

If you’re water has not returned yet, please make sure your taps are all turned off to avoid any flooding

Bottled water stations

While supply returns for many customers, we will continue to keep our bottled water stations open. They are currently scheduled to close at 10pm.

We’ve now opened a fourth station, which is located in Calshot Road Car Park, Calshot, SO45 1BS

We're continuing to deliver bottled water to those on the Priority Services Register. Over the last 24 hours this list has more than tripled, and we're increasing our efforts to make sure deliveries are being made as quickly and safely as possible. Today we brought in a third contractor to help us accelerate delivery to households on the Register, some of whom have had to wait much longer than they should have.

We will update you again at 8pm.

Bottled water stations

We continue to operate 3 bottled water stations. Please see below the site addresses:

• Staplewood Football Development Centre, Marchwood, Southampton SO40 4WR
• Places Leisure Centre – Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL
• ASDA, Maynard Road, Totton, Southampton, SO40 3ZA

Priority Service Register 

Using two contractors, we are redoubling our efforts to get water deliveries made to customers on the Priority Services Register (PSR). It is clear that some customers on the Register have been waiting much longer than they should have to receive a delivery. While the PSR list has more than tripled in the last 24 hours, if a vulnerable household is still waiting to receive water, that's not acceptable, and we are working hard to rectify this.

We will update you again at 6:30pm.

We’re continuing to work 24/7 to return water supplies for customers in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest. Postcodes affected remain SO15, SO16, SO40, SO42, SO43, SO45, SO50, SO51, SO52 and SO53. 
 
The issue at Testwood Water Supply Works has been fixed and we’re continuing to carefully fill our water reservoir. This is a gradual process to avoid bursts. Some customers will start to see their water supply return later today and this number will gradually increase.

Bottled water supplies

Three bottled water stations are open and they are located at:

• Staplewood Football Development Centre, Marchwood, Southampton SO40 4WR  
• Places Leisure Centre – Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL 
• ASDA, Maynard Road, Totton, Southampton, SO40 3ZA  

Please be aware all sites are very busy and there are queues, but we are stocking up cars as quickly as possible. 
 
The second round of bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register and care homes will take place today. If you need to be added to our Priority Service Register, please call 0330 303 0368 or sign up on our website.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing. 

We have three bottled water stations open from 8am for customers to collect supplies:

• Staplewood Football Development Centre, Marchwood, Southampton SO40 4WR
• Places Leisure Centre – Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL
• ASDA, Maynard Road, Totton, Southampton, SO40 3ZA 

We are continuing to deliver water to customers on our Priority Services Register, as well as care homes. If you would like to be added to our register, please call 0330 303 0368. 

We continue to work hard to restore supplies to Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest.

Overnight our teams have fixed the problem at the Testwood Water Supply Works and restarted the site. We're now filling up the reservoir again with drinking water, ready to restore supply. This is a gradual process which must be done carefully and safely, but customers will start to be reconnected later today.

Alternative water supplies

We are opening bottled water stations today across the region and we will update on their locations and opening times from 8am. This is to make sure they have supplies and are ready to help you.

We completed the first round of our bottled water deliveries to care homes and customers on our Priority Services Register overnight. We are planning to restart our second round of deliveries later today. If you need to be added to our Priority Service Register, please call 0330 303 0368.

We are so sorry for the disruption this has caused you.

We will update you again with the latest news before 8.30am.

We have teams working through the night to fix the issue we currently have at Testwood Water Supply Works and restore supplies for customers affected in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest.

The postcodes affected are SO15, SO16, SO40, SO42, SO43, SO45, SO50, SO51, SO52, SO53.

Alternative water supplies

We will continue to deliver bottled water into the night to more than 12,000 customers on our Priority Services Register. Please be assured we will keep delivering, but it is taking longer than we anticipated and we’re very sorry for the delay. All affected care homes will be included in our PSR deliveries. If you need to be added to our Priority Service Register, please call 0330 303 0368.

A total of 23 tankers are involved in the support operation to keep vital services supplied – seven of them dedicated to University Hospital Southampton.                                                                               

Bottled water stations

We have one bottled water station still open until 11pm tonight. This is located at ASDA, Maynard Road, Totton, Southampton, SO40 3ZA.

All other sites have closed for the night.

We will reopen bottled water stations tomorrow and we will confirm locations/opening times in our 7am update.

We’re very sorry for the disruption caused today.

In addition to our bottled water station at Places Leisure in Eastleigh, we have now opened two further stations in Marchwood and Southampton.

Please see below the locations of our two bottled water stations. They will be open until 10pm tonight (Wednesday 18 December).

• Places Leisure, Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL
• Lordshill Sainsburys, Superstore, Southampton SO16 8HY

While we work hard to fix the issue at Testwood Water Supply Works, we are continuing to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register (PSR).
 
If you’re on our register and haven’t received bottled water yet, we hope to complete our deliveries at approximately 7pm. If you need to be added to our Priority Service Register, please call 0330 303 0368.
 
Our bottled water station at Places Leisure Centre (Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL) is open and we are trying to keep supplies topped up as quickly as we can, but it is extremely busy with long queues. Please do not travel to any other potential bottled water station locations until we confirm they are open.
 
We’re continuing to pump water into Southampton General Hospital and Princess Anne Hospital with tankers, and all other available tankers are helping to top up our water network where possible. 
 
The fix at Testwood Supply Works is ongoing and we hope to complete the initial phase by tomorrow morning. We then need to re-charge our water network and restore supply to homes that were affected. If these works proceed to our current plan customers should start to see supplies restored during tomorrow, but some areas may take longer.

We are working towards all customers being back in supply by the weekend. 
 
Our next update will be at 9pm. We’re very sorry for this ongoing disruption

When do you expect water supplies to return to normal?

We have diagnosed the root cause of the issue that necessitated the closure of our Testwood Water Supply Works, causing widespread loss of supply to homes in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest.

We have a clear plan to fix the issue and our operational teams are working hard on this, with the aim of completing the initial phase of the fix at Testwood by tomorrow morning.

Afterwards, it will take some time to re-charge the water network and restore supply to homes that were affected. If these works proceed to our current plan customers should start to see supplies restored during tomorrow. There may be some pockets where the process takes a little longer, but our plan is for all customers to be back on supply before the weekend. 
 
The postcodes affected are SO15, SO16, SO40, SO42, SO43, SO45, SO50, SO51, SO52 and SO53.

Alternative water supplies

Our Incident Alternative Response team are working 24/7 to ensure we support our most vulnerable customers and key services.
 
We’re continuing to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register, and expect to complete our delivery to more than 12,000 homes by 7pm this evening. If you would like to be added to our register, please call 0330 303 0368.
 
We have tankers pumping water directly into our network to help reduce the impact, and we also have three tankers dedicated to Southampton General Hospital.
 
All impacted schools in the area have been contacted. If a school has not been contacted, this means they are not at risk of losing water supply.

Bottled Water Stations

We are currently restocking our Bottled Water Station at Places Leisure Centre (Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL) and expect to have more water on site at 4pm. However, please be aware it is extremely busy with long queues while cars wait.
 
We’re working hard to open additional bottled water stations ASAP, and we will confirm once we have done so.
 
Our website and social media channels will continue to be updated, and we will provide a further update by 6pm.
 
We’re sorry for the impact this is causing.

We currently have a technical fault at Testwood Water Supply Works which means water is not leaving the site. We’ve been working 24/7 since late last night to fix the issue.
 
Customers in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest are experiencing either low pressure or loss of water supply. The postcodes affected are SO15, SO16, SO40, SO42, SO43, SO45, SO50, SO51, SO52, SO53.

Water supply alternative response plans 

Our Incident Alternative Response team have been working continuously to ensure we support our most vulnerable customers and key services, and mitigate for any potential loss of supplies.  
 
Bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register are ongoing, as well as care homes. If you would like to be added to our register, please call 0330 303 0368.

Bottled water stations

We’re also setting up bottled water stations for customers to collect supplies, and the first of which has now opened at:

• Places Leisure Centre – Passfield Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9NL

We will let you know additional bottled water station locations ASAP.
 
We're very sorry for the impact this is causing and we will provide a further update by 3pm.

We’re really sorry that customers in parts of Southampton, Eastleigh, Romsey and the New Forest are experiencing either low pressure or a loss of water supply. This is being caused by a technical issue at our Testwood Water Supply Works.  

Our teams are onsite and working hard to fix the fault, however this is going to take time.  

We’re starting to deliver bottled water to vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register. If you are concerned or are a vulnerable customer and need access to bottled water as a priority, please call us on 0330 303 0368.   

We’re also setting up bottled water stations and these will open shortly. We will let you know their locations and opening and closing hours ASAP. 

With water supplies returned to all customers, our three bottled water stations have been very quiet since opening at 8am this morning.
 
Therefore, we will be closing the three sites at 1pm today.
 
Please be assured reactive plans are in place to reopen bottled water stations if required.

We'll update you again at 2:30pm.