Thames Water experienced a significant water outage affecting up to 15,000 properties initially but reduced to around 6,000 by later reports. The incident forced several schools and nurseries in Surrey and south London to close temporarily on September 28. MP Monica Harding and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey criticized Thames Water for poor infrastructure maintenance and high debt servicing costs, with Harding calling for an urgent response from the company. Thames Water promised to restore water supply shortly after isolating a burst main and apologized for the inconvenience.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-28,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A burst water pipe in Crawley, West Sussex, left around 9,000 customers without water or with low pressure on Sunday morning. Roads near Southgate Roundabout were closed due to flooding. Meanwhile, a separate incident involving a "large burst water main" affected up to 15,000 properties across five London boroughs and parts of Surrey on Monday, though this number later fell to about 6,000. Schools in areas like Kingston upon Thames and Merton were forced to close due to the supply issues. Thames Water worked to isolate the burst main in West Molesey and reroute water around its network to restore supplies as quickly as possible.
Written for “Burst Pipe Crisis London” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Thames Water said up to 15,000 properties were initially affected by the issue, later adding the number had fallen to 6,000.
asserted
number → say → 6,000
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.
asserted
postcodes → impact → CR4
Meanwhile, some schools and nurseries said they had been forced to shut because of the fault.
asserted
they → say → fault
Esher Sixth Form College, in Thames Ditton, Surrey, said on its website: “Due to a major water outage affecting the KT10 area and our campus, the College is now closed on Monday September 28.
asserted
College → say → Monday
“Students and staff must return home, or stay at home until further communications via Teams.”
asserted
Students → return → Teams
The Holy Cross School in New Malden, south London, said: “Due to a local water supply issue affecting the school site this morning, we have taken the decision to close the school today.”
asserted
we → say → school
Thames Ditton Infant School and Long Ditton Infant and Nursery School, Surrey, also said they were shut for the day because of the issue.
asserted
they → say → issue
Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, Surrey, had told the Press Association on Monday morning: “We need an urgent response from Thames Water to get water supplies back on as soon as possible and to protect vulnerable communities.
asserted
We → tell → communities
“Once the water is flowing again, we need to establish exactly what happened and why.
asserted
what → flow → ?
“My worry is that decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidences like this.”
uncertain
decades → cause → this
The MP said on X that her constituency was affected by the issue.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the difficulties faced by households were “yet another example” of the water firm failing its customers.
“Thames Water is already the worst water company in England and Wales for leaky pipes – losing an average of 592 million litres every single day,” he said.
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he → say → litres
Read More
“Meanwhile, 28% of customers’ bills goes straight to servicing the company’s debt, not fixing the crumbling infrastructure that is now failing them.
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that → read → them
“The final whistle needs to be blown on Thames Water, and (Prime Minister Andy) Burnham needs to get a grip.”
asserted
Burnham → need → grip
Some people posted on X saying they had woken up to no water on Monday morning.
asserted
they → post → morning
“We have no running water,” one user said, before adding: “I just want a shower and a cup of tea.
asserted
I → have → tea
Thames Water want their bonuses.”
asserted
Water → want → bonuses
Replying to Ms Harding’s post, another user said the outage was “having a huge impact already”.
asserted
outage → reply → impact
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We have isolated the burst main in Molesey and all customers should see their water supply restored shortly if it has not been already, although they may experience some low pressure.
uncertain
they → say → pressure
“We are sorry for this morning’s outage and would like to thank customers for the patience they have shown.
asserted
they → like → patience
“A bottled water station will still be opened this afternoon for customers who require it and we will share its location once it is confirmed.
asserted
it → open → location
“Our engineers remain at the site and are working on a permanent repair.”
asserted
engineers → remain → repair
A straw poll conducted at the entrance to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday saw 99 of 100 votes cast in favour of public ownership of Thames Water.
asserted
votes → conduct → Water
Sophie Conquest of campaign group We Own It, which staged an event outside the conference, said: “Hedge funds or households?
asserted
which → own → funds
“This Government can choose to sell off one of our most vital resources to US billionaires, or they can take it into public hands and run it in the interests of households, workers and our environment.”
asserted
they → choose → households
The Aporia
