Southern Water reveals reason behind water loss as thousands have supplies restored

Southern Water says the majority of the 15,000 customers in Hampshire, who lost their water supply, should have intermittent supplies by Friday morning.

Homes and businesses in parts of Winchester and Southampton were left with low pressure or no water at all on Wednesday night, February 15.

The firm has revealed that the problem was caused by an issue at the company's water supply works in Otterbourne.

Twelve SO postcode areas have been affected.

In a statement on the company's website, Southern Water said: "Our work to return water supplies is progressing well.

"Many of our customers are rezoned, and if our ongoing rezone plans proceed as we hope overnight, it’s possible that by the morning almost all customers will have some supply.

"As we continue our work to bring Otterbourne water supply works back online, it is likely that customers will see their water supply drop in and out as demand across the network varies. This is normal. 

"We’ll keep you updated when this phase of our work is complete and you can expect to see the situation stabilise."

Bottled water stations will reopen on Friday, February 17, for those still without water.

The company says customers should check its website for further details about where these will open and at what times.

In a statement on Thursday night, Southern Water said: "During planned maintenance at our Otterbourne water supply works, our systems detected that untreated water was not being filtered correctly.

"Our systems are designed to automatically shut down to avoid their being any risk to our water supplies should this situation arise. 

"Work has been underway since yesterday evening to safely contain, drain, clean, disinfect and refill the part of the system affected. 

"Once the system is refilled, we will undertake extensive water quality testing before putting water back into supply.

"We would never take risks on the quality of the water that we provide and it’s important that we carry out this process in the correct way. This is why it’s taking time."

Bottled water stations were opened on Thursday at Cantell School and The Ageas Bowl in Southampton as well as at Places Leisure in Eastleigh.