UK faculties shut and 1000’s of individuals with out water after huge water principal bursts

A burst water main in West Molesey, Surrey, has forced schools and nurseries to shut. Thames Water says 6,000 properties remain affected, down from up to 15,000 initially

Schools have been forced to close and thousands of people are without water following a major water main burst, according to Thames Water.

In an update posted on its website on Monday morning, the company stated that its specialist team was “on site and working to stop the water flooding from the broken pipe” in West Molesey, Surrey.

The firm noted that due to the location of the fault, it would take “some time” to rectify the issue. Thames Water initially reported that up to 15,000 properties were affected by the problem, but later revised this figure down to 6,000.

Customers residing in the following postcodes were hit: CR4, KT1, KT10, KT12, KT2, KT3, KT5, KT6, KT7, KT8, SM4, SW16, SW17, SW18, SW19, SW20, TW10 and TW16.

Meanwhile, several schools and nurseries announced they had no choice but to close due to the fault. Esher Sixth Form College, located in Thames Ditton, Surrey, announced on its website: “Due to a major water outage affecting the KT10 area and our campus, the College is now closed on Monday September 28.

“Students and staff must return home, or stay at home until further communications via Teams.”

The Holy Cross School in New Malden, south London, stated: “Due to a local water supply issue affecting the school site this morning, we have taken the decision to close the school today.”

Thames Ditton Infant School and Long Ditton Infant and Nursery School, both in Surrey, also confirmed they were closed for the day due to the problem.

Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, Surrey, told the Press Association: “We need an urgent response from Thames Water to get water supplies back on as soon as possible and to protect vulnerable communities.

“Once the water is flowing again, we need to establish exactly what happened and why. My worry is that decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidences like this. Right now, however, the priority must be getting water back in our taps.”

The MP revealed on X that she was “pushing for an urgent response” as her constituency had been hit by the problem.

Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon, south London, said he had contacted Thames Water following reports of a water shortage across Wimbledon, New Malden, Raynes Park and Morden, in south London.

Several people took to X saying they had awoken to find no water on Monday morning. “We have no running water,” one user said, before adding: “I just want a shower and a cup of tea. Thames Water want their bonuses.”

Responding to Ms Harding’s post, another user said the outage was “having a huge impact already”. A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Our engineers are making progress on repairing the burst in Molesey but it is likely to take some time to complete.

“We are rerouting water in the area to reduce the impact on customers while we work to fix the burst. Customers in Surbiton should be seeing their supply return although the pressure may be lower than usual.

“Water deliveries are being made to customers who are on our priority services register. We will be opening bottled water stations this afternoon and will provide their locations once confirmed.

“We believe up to 15,000 properties were affected this morning and that has now been reduced to 6,000. We again would like to say sorry to our customers and reassure those who are still affected that we are working to restore their water supply as quickly as possible.”

The spokesperson confirmed that additional updates would be published on the company’s website.

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