Guildford water outages enter fifth day, though supplies mostly restored

Some residents in villages in Surrey are spending a fifth day with little or no water, as supplies resume elsewhere.

A fault at Shalford sewage treatment works on Saturday left 12,000 in the Guildford area with no fresh water.

Thames Water said 90% of customers were reconnected but some airlocks remained in pipes, leaving disrupted supplies in Bramley and Farncombe.

Josh Howard said he lost money after he was forced to close his cafe because of a lack of water.

Mr Howard, who runs The Nest coffee shop in Bramley, told BBC Radio Surrey his business had no water since Saturday.

"We would have normally opened late on Saturday for the fireworks but we had to close and we had to close again on Sunday."

He said he had missed out on hundreds of pounds through lost business on Saturday evening alone.

A Thames Water spokesman said: "Overnight, supplies have continued to return to customers, with the majority of customers now back in supply.

"Some properties may be experiencing airlocks (trapped air) in our pipes.

"Our teams have been working to resolve this issue overnight and will continue working to clear these today.

"We are aware that some customers in the areas of Munstead Heath Road, High Street Bramley, Thorncombe Street and Horsham Road near Bramley, may still have no water or low pressure."

He said tankers continued to pump water into the local supply network.

Bottled water stations at Crown Court car park in Godalming and Artington park and ride in Guilford have reopened on Wednesday, Thames Water said.

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