‘This is the future’: the Oxfordshire village living without running water

Residents of Northend, near Henley-on-Thames, are reliant on a tanker and bottles of water supplied by Thames Water. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Before Carolyn Evans set foot in the shower Wednesday morning, she set a five-minute timer as an emergency tanker outside supplied water. Not enough time, she discovered, to wash her hair as well.

For Evans, who has lived in the small village of Northend for 12 years, it’s anxiety inducing.