Southern Water customers face water supply issues for 48 hours
- Published
Customers across several parts of Hampshire are set to be affected
Residents in parts of Hampshire are set to face disruption to their water supply over the next two days due to problems on the network.
Southern Water said more than 20,000 properties in Southampton, Eastleigh, Hedge End and Chandler's Ford would be affected.
It blamed leaks caused by changes in temperature and recent heavy rainfall.
The company said it had limited customers' supplies in order to protect Southampton General Hospital.
The firm earlier announced issues with supplies in the New Forest but later said this was incorrect and people had not been affected.
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Southern Water said it was dealing with several leaks following the recent freeze and thaw in south Hampshire.
Dr Alison Hoyle, the firm's director of risk and compliance, said: "Some of these are on very large mains and that's why this is causing such a particular problem - the volume of water going out of the system.
"It does mean that currently demand is outstripping supply so we have needed to reduce and limit water supply in the area, so we are protecting critical infrastructure such as the hospital in Southampton."
Dr Alison Hoyle said customers' supplies were being restricted in order to protect Southampton General Hospital
Customers in affected areas can expect to see reduced water pressure or loss of water throughout Wednesday afternoon, according to the company.
Bottled water stations have been set up at South Winchester Park and Ride, East Winchester Park and Ride and Places Leisure in Eastleigh, while water is also being delivered to vulnerable customers on the firm's priority list.
Southern Water appealed to unaffected customers to reduce demand to ease the problem for others.
The firm previously explained recent heavy rainfall caused the amount of sediment in water, taken from rivers in Hampshire, to be higher than normal.
"This means our water treatment works are having to work harder to treat the water before we can supply to our customers," it added.
"We're doing our best to find a technical solution to accelerate this process."
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