Thames Water Pipe Burst Leaves Thousands Without Water, Forces School Closures
A major burst water main in Molesey, Surrey, has disrupted water supply to approximately 15,000 homes and led to the closure of several schools across Surrey and London.
A significant burst water main in Molesey, Surrey, has caused widespread disruption, leaving thousands of homes without water and forcing multiple schools and nurseries to close. The pipe began leaking an estimated 750 liters per second, affecting water supply and pressure for up to 15,000 properties across several London boroughs and Surrey.
Several educational institutions announced closures due to the water outage. Esher Sixth Form College in Thames Ditton stated on its website that it was closed on Monday, September 28, due to the "major water outage affecting the KT10 area and our campus." Similarly, The Holy Cross School in New Malden reported closing for the day because of a "local water supply issue affecting the school site."
Neilson Recreation Ground in southwest London also experienced flooding as a result of the burst main. Residents faced inconvenience, with some scrambling to buy bottled water from supermarkets, leading to depleted shelves.
Thames Water acknowledged the incident and stated that specialist teams were on site to repair the leak. A spokesperson for the company said engineers were making progress but that the repair was expected to take some time. The company was rerouting water in the area to minimize the impact and reported that supply was returning to some areas, though potentially at lower pressure. Bottled water stations were planned for residents in Molesey, and water deliveries were being made to customers on their priority services register.
As of the evening, approximately 6,000 properties were still affected by the outage, down from an initial estimate of 15,000. Thames Water reiterated its apologies to affected customers and assured them that efforts to restore supply were ongoing.
The incident has drawn criticism from local politicians. Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, called for an "urgent response" from Thames Water to restore supplies and protect vulnerable communities. She also emphasized the need to investigate the cause of the incident, suggesting that "decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidents like this."
Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon, also reported reaching out to Thames Water following reports of outages in his constituency. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey criticized Thames Water, labeling it "the worst water company in England and Wales for leaky pipes" and highlighting that a significant portion of customer bills goes towards servicing debt rather than infrastructure repair.
Thames Water, Britain's largest water company, serves 3.9 million customers and reportedly carries £19.5 billion in debt. The company loses an average of 569 million liters of water per day due to leaks across its network, a figure that has decreased from ten years ago. A hosepipe ban remains in effect for millions of households, adding to customer dissatisfaction.