Residents left without running water for three days have said they’re fed up of waiting for it to be turned back on, as concerns were raised some are unable to get to the only bottled water station available.
Taps have run dry in Crystal Palace, Sydenham and surrounding areas since Tuesday evening (February 11), after a water pipe burst in nearby Dulwich.
Households in SE19, SE23, SE26, SE27 and SW16 have been affected by the outage, including seven schools and three care homes. Thames Water hasn’t stated when water supply will be restored to all homes, but has said it is ‘working 24 hours a day to resolve the situation’.
Affected residents the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke to on Thursday (February 13) at an emergency bottled water station set up in a Sainsbury’s car park in Bell Green said the lack of water was ‘annoying’. Ernest Satheesbeen, who lives in Catford, said: “We’ve had no water for three days. At first I thought it had frozen, but when it continued being a problem I realised everyone was affected and it was more serious.
“It’s not great. I’m hoping it will be back to normal soon. I didn’t know there was bottled water here. I just saw it [the distribution hub] on my way to work. I asked the staff and they said I need to come around with my car to get it so I’m going to do that.”
Candice Brown was pushing a trolley piled with bottled water through Sainsbury’s car park when she stopped to speak to the LDRS. The 47-year-old from Crystal Palace said it was the first of several trips she would be making to the collection point, as she was getting supplies for neighbours as well as herself.
She said: “It’s the first time I have been today but I’m coming back as I’m assisting other people. I had to help somebody carry a few bottles earlier. The water is off and on at the moment. Since I have been living in the area there has been a big problem with the water. I think there has been a water pressure problem for a while.”
Anna Kakule, 27, from Sydenham, who was also without water, said: “It’s annoying. The water has been going on and off for three days. There is water but it stops regularly and the pressure is not high.
“It’s the first time I’ve been to collect water. I saw the collection point yesterday when I was passing by. I hadn’t seen it advertised anywhere.”
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She added: “The water pressure generally is not good and the water is not hot enough. You can shower with just the hot tap on, without any cold water cooling it.”
Helen Hayes, MP for many of the affected residents, criticised Thames Water for its ‘chaotic handling of [the] water outages’ in an open letter to the firm’s CEO Chris Weston on Thursday. Hayes, Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said she was concerned Thames Water had allowed such a big leak to occur at a critical pumping station and described the firm’s support for residents as ‘poor’.
She added: “The only bottled water station is located in Bell Green, which is inaccessible for many of my constituents who do not have a car. There appears to be no consideration for my constituents who will need to collect water on foot.”
On Wednesday (February 12) Thames Water had to close the distribution hub at Bell Green early ‘due to a security incident’. People on social media reported seeing people fighting over bottled water at the collection point.
Word of the free supplies appeared to have spread beyond affected residents by Thursday (February 13). One man the LDRS spoke to at the bottled water station in Bell Green admitted he wasn’t impacted by the water outage, but had just come to load his car with free bottled water.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We are sorry to customers in the Crystal Palace area who have experienced low water pressure or no water due to a burst pipe. Overnight our teams have worked to re-route water into the network with water supply now restored to the majority of properties.
“We will continue to deliver bottled water to those on our priority services register in the impacted area and have reopened our bottled water station at Sainsbury’s Southend Lane, SE26 4PU. Our teams are working 24 hours a day to resolve the situation, and we are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
