Southern Water has warned that a water service disruption that started on Wednesday morning and has affected 58,000 properties across Hampshire is likely to last until the weekend due to a technical fault at a supply works. The company said that tankers are pumping water directly into the network to help reduce the impact of the blackout. Meanwhile, Hampshire County Council leader, Nick Adams-King, called the disruption “damaging and unacceptable” and said it was caused by “an issue at Testwood Water Treatment Works led to an automated shutdown of the reservoir” due to water quality concerns. Adams-King also pointed out that Southampton General Hospital is among the entities affected by the lack of water.
Southern Water has apologised for the outage and is now setting up bottled water stations, prioritising access to customers on its priority list, and continuing to deliver bottled water to its customers. In addition, three tankers are being dedicated to Southampton General Hospital to ensure that it does not face supply interruptions. The disruption began as households were awaiting news of a likely rise in water charges the following day by the water regulator Ofwat, which is expected to announce a more than 20% increase in charges over the next five years for those in England and Wales. Over 20 schools were shut because of the water crisis.
The England and Wales water regulations need significant update with a £200bn investment needed over the coming decade, according to the Environment Agency. The Agency’s chief executive, Sir James Bevan, has suggested that water rationing may become necessary in England in the coming years if improvements to systems and infrastructure, including reducing the amount of water leaked from pipes, do not take place. As part of the government’s Environmental Bill, news laws would see water companies face a legal requirement with sanctions threatened if they fail to deal with pollution incidents such as leaks.
The government’s Minister of State for Environment, Rebecca Pow, warned the House of Commons on 15 December that leaks cost the country 3.1 billion litres of water daily. She also stated that the laws on water use were last updated 30 years ago and that the government now needs to drastically overhaul these rules. Last month, Ofwat challenged water companies to cut leaks by 16% and ordered them to reduce daily consumption to 110 litres per day by 2050. The regulator is also increasing fines on companies that fall short of minimum standards
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
