Southern Water: Four-day water shutdown unacceptable - minister

Residents had to collect bottled water while supplies were off

A four-day water supply emergency which affected residents for a second time in three months was "totally unacceptable", a minister has said.

About 20,000 homes in south Hampshire suffered problems when Southern Water shut down a supply site on 15 February.

A similar number of homes in the area also lost water before Christmas.

Environment minister Rebecca Pow told the House of Commons she would discuss the "repeated failure" with the water firm's chief executive.

Rebecca Pow told the House of Commons the water supply failure was totally unacceptable

The issue was raised by Romsey and Southampton North MP Caroline Nokes, who called for increased investment to prevent future problems.

Ms Pow replied: "Whilst some supply interruptions cannot be avoided, this repeated failure to properly ensure customers continued water supply is totally unacceptable and I will be meeting with Southern Water's CEO to understand how they plan to address their failings."

She added that water companies who break the law would face "substantial penalties", with the government still considering fines of up to £250m.

Southern Water has written to Ms Pow, confirming that the most recent problem was caused by an issue with filtration during maintenance at Otterbourne supply works.

The company's chief executive Lawrence Gosden wrote: "I recognise that this is a significant inconvenience to our customers so close to the event before Christmas.

"We have worked around the clock to get customers back into supply while we continue to fix the asset failure at our Otterbourne supply works.

"Customers have on the whole been understanding and we will compensate them appropriately once the supply is restored."

The water company said later in a statement it was investing more than £40m at Otterbourne.

It added: "We are really sorry this happened and we know how distressing it was for our customers."