Southampton's main hospital said some of its site was still without mains water.

In a statement, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Water supplies are currently available in parts of our hospital site and we are prioritising delivering and restocking bottled water supplies to areas that remain without.

“Measures have been put in place to support vulnerable patients who are being discharged, to ensure they return home with a supply of water."

It said patients should still turn up for appointments as planned.

Image source, Getty Images

Another customer on the priority list says no water bottles have been sent to her.

Jill Woolger, 66, from Dibden Purlieu, said she was told to expect a delivery yesterday evening but nothing arrived.

The retired nurse, who lives with an autoimmune condition, said: "I think what I'm so fed up about is that I'm on the priority service, but I haven't had any water."

A similar issue was reported earlier by Karen, a BBC Radio Solent listener from Totton.

BBC drone footage shows workers filling cars with bottled water at Asda in Totton.

A line of cars can be seen winding around the water station's filter lanes.

Some drivers have reported queuing for up to two hours to reach the site, while other people said they had walked for up to three miles to get emergency supplies.

Ashley Marshman, Southern Water’s head of customer service, has told BBC News there were still 58,000 customers without supply this morning.

“There was a fault at our Testwood Supply Works, which was caused by some concerns around water quality," he said.

"The site actually shut down as it was meant to do and that has protected customers from any water issues getting into the network and the pipes.

“We’ve now fixed that issue and are refilling the network and customers should receive their supply throughout today and tomorrow.”

Mr Marshman said they had delivered water to 12,000 vulnerable customers and another 8,000 people had come forward to say they also needed help.

But he admitted the company’s response to supplying bottled water had been lacking and that it was sorry.

“It’s not good enough for our customers and we accept that. We need to do better in setting up our bottled water stations quicker and getting customers the supply they need," he said.

Mr Marshman said a fourth water station will open later but did not say where that will be.

A charity which recently bought a historical Girlguiding centre is offering water for washing and flushing toilets.

Foxlease Park, near Lyndhurst, has running water, although it is not suitable for drinking, charity Foxie's Future said.

It said people could come and fill up containers until 16:00.

In November, the charity announced it had bought the site from Girlguiding in order to reopen it as an activities centre next year.

Image source, Foxie's Future

Southern Water has reconfirmed the issue at Testwood Water Supply Works, which caused the outage, has been fixed.

In a statement, it said it was "continuing to carefully fill our water reservoir" to avoid pipes bursting.

Affected postcodes remain SO15, SO16, SO40, SO42, SO43, SO45, SO50, SO51, SO52 and SO53, the company said.

Three stations are currently open:

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

You can find an interactive version of the map below here.

Water supplies have been restored across much of Totton, according to posts on social media.

Facebook users in west, north and central Totton have reported that mains water returned in the past hour.

Karen, a BBC Radio Solent listener from Totton, said she had been left “very angry and frustrated” after water did not arrive despite her being on Southern Water’s priority list.

“They’re just a bunch of liars. I would love to know where they have been in the last 24 hours because there’s been no sign of them here," she said.

But she said water had started to "trickle" through to her home earlier this morning.

BBC reporter Jon Cuthill, who is at Eastleigh’s water station, said things are now running much better than when it opened at about 08:10.

“There’s an army of workers. It’s a lot smoother than it was earlier this morning. There were a few hiccups along the way but a whole column of cars are snaking around the car park and beyond.

"Hundreds of people are turning up to get these water bottles," he said.

“People have told me supermarkets have sold out and shops have sold out so the only option is to turn up in your car or your van or whatever you’ve got and pick up your water.”

He said about half of those turning up are angry, with the other half resigned to it.

And he said the announcement of rising water bills has “irked”some.

“They’re saying: ‘my bills are going up and yet I’m having to turn up to a car park and pick up water because my taps are dry'.”

The water minister Emma Hardy has met Southern Water's chief executive Lawrence Gosden.

She told him that it must take "urgent steps to support residents and resolve the issues as soon as possible".

“Incidents like this are why we are forcing water companies to double the compensation provided to customers for supply issues," a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said.

“We are also carrying out a full review of the sector to shape further legislation that will transform how our water system works, increasing investment to upgrade crumbling infrastructure and strengthening regulation to better hold companies to account.”

Image source, UK Parliament

Michael Mintram, who collected water in Eastleigh, said he has become “resigned” to water issues after previous outages.

“It’s happened before and I’m just thinking: come on, what century do we live in?”

Mr Mintram said he received a text message from Southern Water on Wednesday alerting him to a water station at Sainsbury’s in Lordshill that was being kept open until 23:00.

“I received the text at 23:15 so that really wasn’t a lot of help,” he added.

Hampshire county councillor David Harrison said the water shortage has been a “shambles”.

He said he remained a “little bit mistrustful” of Southern Water’s promises of water returning on Thursday after previous supply issues.

“If there was a competition for the worst run company I think that they would win all the prizes and quite frankly the most annoying thing is you can’t switch your supplier,” Mr Harrison, who is also a district councillor in the New Forest, said.

“[Southern Water] have got an absolute monopoly and it does not seem to matter how badly the company is run.”

The BBC has asked Southern Water for an interview.

A long queue of motorists formed around the Staplewood Football Development Centre in Marchwood earlier, where people were waiting to pick up water.

Sharon Lynch, from Bishopstoke, returned from holiday to find that she has no water at home.

She joined the queue at Places Leisure Centre in Eastleigh, one of the bottled water distribution centres set up by Southern Water.

A shower will have to wait for the time being, she said.

"As long as the grandchildren have got water to drink and I can have a cup of tea, that's fine," she said.

Emily Hudson
Hampshire & Isle of Wight political reporter

BBC reporter Emily Hudson is at a water station in Totton.

“Lots and lots of staff have arrived in the last half an hour or so. Apparently when there’s an incident they use volunteers from their team so they can man these stations and with the time of year, perhaps these volunteers just weren’t forthcoming.

“There will definitely be questions asked; there will definitely be an investigation into whether these bottled water stations were in the right place and how they’re operating.”

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Southampton Test MP Satvir Kaur said some residents had not received water they had been promised.

“I’m talking to single mums with disabled children and an elderly man who’s recovering from a heart attack and can’t have his medication. This is completely unacceptable and so very frustrating for people,” she said.

Thousands of people in Southampton, Eastleigh, Hedge End and Chandler’s Ford also lost supply back in December 2022.

“It’s the most unwelcome Christmas tradition in Southampton. When I was leader [of Southampton City Council], there were conversations with Southern Water about why they just couldn’t get their act together and plan more effectively,” Ms Kaur added.

Southern Water has apologised and said customers would start to be reconnected later on Thursday.

BBC reporter Jon Cuthill is at the Places Leisure Centre in Eastleigh, which opened slightly later than expected at 08:10, and said people weren't happy.

"Imagine you've been sat in the car for an hour waiting for a water pick-up station to open and it's still not happened," he said.

When it did open its doors to residents, it first served a man who had waited from about 07:00.