Hundreds of UK households woke up this morning without water amid the ongoing heatwave as locals were forced to flock to bottled water stations ahead of expected 33C highs.
Countless Brits in Surrey woke up with little or no water pressure this morning due to “technical issues” at a local Thames Water plant.
The incident comes as the country experiences its second heatwave in a matter of weeks, with temperatures around the UK set to hit the low to mid 30s once again.
The affected areas covers Dorking and Cranleigh - including the following postcodes: GU5, GU6, RH4, RH5 and RH12, SurreyLive reported.
In a statement, Thames Water said: "Our specialist engineers are on site and are working hard to fix the issue as quickly as possible. We’ve been using tankers to pump water into the local supply network to help improve the situation.
“We are opening bottled water stations this morning for those who need temporary supplies. We will confirm the locations and opening times here, as soon as possible.
"We know how worrying and disruptive it is to be without water, especially in this hot weather. Thank you for your continued patience while we work to get supplies back to normal. We’ll post updates here, once we have further information."
However, Thames Water have come under fire recently as they waste 24 per cent of water every single day to leaks but have called on Brits to limit their usage.
The company previously told The Mirror : “We know it’s not acceptable to be losing so much precious water but we’re doing something about it”.
Two bottled water stations have been opened this morning. The first at Cranleigh Leisure Centre where locals can collect much needed supplies.
A second was set up later west of Dorking off the A25 at the Surrey Hills Business Park. However, there’s a growing concern amongst locals, especially for vulnerable people in the area.
Martin Bamford, one local affected, said that some water was rushed directly to vulnerable households.
He said: “There is still no info from Thames Water on where the additional bottled water points will be. There are quite a lot of scared, desperate people now because it's so hot.
“Cranleigh has a very unreliable water network and we suffer from this quite a lot. Burst pipes are almost a weekly occurrence in this village, and I think the feeling is that Thames Water haven't made the investment over the years in this area, and the water supply just isn't fit for purpose.”
His words echo that sentiment of many others that water companies up and down the UK aren’t doing enough.
This also isn’t the first time East Surrey has had water supply issues. In February after Storm Eunice battered the county there were also issues that led to Thames Water supplying bottled water.
At around that time, residents on one street in Peaslake said that there had been 20 occasions in under two years when they either had no water at all or very low pressure.
MP and twice Tory Leadership loser Jeremy Hunt tweeted: “Update from Sarah Bentley, Thames Water CEO:issue is prob with equipment (which is being replaced with new pipeline).Teams working round clock.Tankers are being used to alleviate the issue and bottled water stations being opened. Surrey County Council in overall responsibility.”
However, not everyone was happy and retired Chelsea and England left-back Graeme Le Saux, who lives in the Cranleigh area slammed it as “another PR stunt” whilst “people suffer”.
In another tweet this morning, Le Saux criticised Thames Water's response. He said: "Your updates are as useless as you are. No information about where to collect water from. No mobile support for the vulnerable in this weather."
