Thames Water update: Supply to resume after 100,000 homes across Twickenham, Teddington and London affected by burst pipe

The water aisle in a Waitrose supermarket, Twickenham, after a burst pipe left large parts of London with little or no water
PA

Water supplies are set to resume in west and south-west London, officials have said, after a burst pipe left 100,000 properties with little or no water.

Thames Water said at 9pm on Wednesday that it had rerouted the water supply in the TW, KT and W postcode areas.

Engineers were expected to continue to work through the night to fix the pipe at the company's main regional pumping station in Hampton.

Thames Water said in a statement: “We’ll continue working through the night to fix the burst pipe at Hampton treatment works as well as clear any trapped air from our pipes.

"As we were able to bypass the burst and add extra water into our network, water pressure has slowly improved in your area. This means you should see your supply returning to normal.

"While we finish off the repair, you may still notice shorter periods of low water pressure, especially at peak times in the morning."

Supermarket shelves were emptied of bottled water in the parts of London that were affected
PA

Schools, businesses and local services were forced to close across Hampton, Twickenham, Kingston and Hounslow, after the pipe burst on Wednesday morning.

Residents in Whitton, Teddington and Isleworth have also been affected. Ealing Council revealed that some residents in the borough were also without water.

Shops were emptied of their supplies of bottled water as residents resorted to panic buying.

This afternoon, Thames Water said at least 100,000 properties had no water or low water pressure.

The company said hundreds of bottles of waters had been delivered to customers on its priority services list, which includes those with medical and mobility issues.

Bottled water stations were set up by Thames Water at a public car park near the Hampton Pub in The Avenue and opposite the Millennium Boat House in Lower Sunbury Road.

The stations will reopen on Thursday morning "as a precaution".

Richmond Council said a number of schools had closed, as well as Teddington Pools, Orleans House Gallery and Hampton Hill Library.

All planned clinics and sessions at Teddington Memorial Hospital, including the Urgent Treatment Centre, and Teddington Health and Social Care Centre were cancelled.

A number of GP services also closed.

Trafalgar Junior School in Twickenham, which had been left without flushing toilets and washing facilities in the kitchen, had to send children home.

Radnor House School in Twickenham also closed at 10.30am but exams were still taking place.

The evening fixture at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey was also abandoned because of the problem.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was "unacceptable that so many people are left without water for several hours with little or no information on when supplies will be restored".

He said he expected Thames Water to compensate all those affected.

Thames Water has apologised for the inconvenience caused and pledged to investigate the cause of the burst pipe "so we can take steps to stop it happening again".

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