Water treatment works fault impacts supply

Residents are being asked to use water carefully due to a fault at a water treatment works affecting supply to an estimated 4,000 homes.

SES Water told customers in Epsom and parts of south London that its Cheam treatment works remained out of service on Tuesday.

The company said work had been ongoing throughout Monday night and would continue until the issue was resolved, with four bottled water stations in place.

Some supplies have been reinstated, with a warning to residents that water "may be cloudy" at first, but that running the cold kitchen tap should resolve the issue.

A spokesperson said that after the fault was discovered on Monday, a routine alternative supply plan was operated but reserve levels were not able to meet demand.

They said a number of customers within Sutton, Morden and Epsom experienced no water supply.

"After initiating an emergency response our supplies started to return to normal," they added.

"Whilst we have been able to recover water supplies and have continued to stabilise our network, storage levels remain low and we are asking customers to use water carefully to preserve as much storage in the system as possible."

Luke Taylor, Sutton and Cheam's Liberal Democrat MP, said on Tuesday he had contacted the water company to say it was "not good enough" for residents and that more water stations were needed.

Four bottled water stations were set up on Tuesday, at Bourne Hall in Ewell, in Epsom's Upper High Street car park, at West Croft Leisure Centre in Carshalton and at Cheam Library in Sutton.

Several schools in the Sutton area, including Nonsuch High School, Cheam Fields Primary, and Busy Bees Nursery, were closed to students on Tuesday because of the issue.

SES Water said it was working closely with St Helier Hospital after it experienced water outage issues, as well as Cheyham Park care home in Cheam.

The water company has not given a timescale for the return of normal supplies.

It said: "We sincerely apologise to all customers who are impacted by this disruption.

"Please rest assured that this is our absolute priority to restore supplies to these areas as fast as possible and we will be communicating updates via our social media channels and our website."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was in close contact with SES Water to ensure the company was taking urgent steps to support residents and resolve the issue as soon as possible."

It also said the government was introducing reforms to double the compensation water companies provide to customers for supply issues like these.

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