Thousands of homes and businesses have been left without water or facing low pressure after a huge water main burst in east London.
Fourteen postcodes across east London and Essex are currently affected after a large water main burst on Chigwell Road in South Woodford on Sunday morning.
The affected areas are E10, E11, E17, E18, E4, IG10, IG2, IG4, IG5, IG6, IG7, IG8, IG9 and RM4.
Thames Water has not said how many residents have been hit by the outage, but a bottled water station has been opened for affected customers.
Residents reported waiting for several hours for water amid London’s ongoing heatwave.
Adam Shah, 44, an IT professional from Gants Hill, queued for almost two hours in his car for water at Fairlop Waters Country Park.
He said: “I've got elderly parents at home with medical conditions. We have no water. I can't brush my teeth or take a shower. You realise how much we use water when you don't have it.
“Thames Water has just been a joke. This has been the third burst pipe in this area recently. There was one at Charlie Brown's Roundabout, one at Daisy Lane and there was another in Walthamstow.
“The commutation has not been great either. They said this water station would stay open until 9pm yesterday but they shut it early at 8pm.”
Mr Shah voiced annoyance that the water shortage had occurred on the same day that it was revealed Thames Water paid its finance chief Steve Buck a £1 million signing-on fee in July.
Alison Flockhart, who queued for an hour and 15 minutes for water, said: “I'm a gardener at a big property near here where they keep animals, including a couple of horses. I've got the van so I said do a run for them.
“Everyone in the queue is being pretty good about it but there are a few who keep blocking off the roundabout.
“Luckily, my home is not affected as I'm just over the border into Essex.”
Engineers worked through the night to repair the burst main, with crews still on site on Monday evening carrying out excavation work and fitting replacement pipework on Daisy Lane.
Thames Water said its teams were also delivering bottled water directly to vulnerable customers' homes who are registered on its Priority Services Register.
The company has apologised for the disruption and warned that even when supplies return, customers could initially experience lower-than-normal water pressure while the network recovers.
An update on the repairs is expected at 9am on Tuesday.
Thames Water said engineers are continuing to work to restore supplies and complete repairs to the damaged pipe on Chigwell Road.
A spokesperson for Thames Water said: “Our teams are making good progress with the repair at Chigwell Road, which will support our efforts to restore water supplies overnight. Repairs at Daisy Road are also ongoing.
“Our specialist teams will remain on site throughout the night and continue working hard to complete the repair as quickly and safely as possible.
“The bottled water station will reopen at 9:00am tomorrow morning: Fairlop Ice Kingdom, Fairlop Road, Ilford, IG6 3HN.
“We’re sorry for the disruption and appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to restore your water supply.
“We’ll provide another update by 11 August, 9:00am.”
