Sixteen schools forced to close over ongoing water supply issues

Thames Water customers in the area have been left without water or experiencing low pressure for nearly two days following a critical pipe bursting in Eysnham, a village east of Witney.

The burst pipe is located on off the Oxford Road, by Swinford Toll Bridge and is understood to be a critical piece of infrastructure, supplying the reservoir which provides fresh water supplies to a significant area of West Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds.

Apparently the pipe was irreparably damaged, so a new piece was made and installed on Thursday, but many residents across the region remain without essential clean water.

As a result of the incident, 16 schools have announced their closure in and around Witney, the Oxford Mail reports.

Of the 16 schools closed in the area, four have been closed since Thursday due to the water supply issues.

Thames Water said in relation to the incident, which has impacted OX7, OX18, OX28, OX29 and GL7 postcodes, that they have "successfully fixed" the pipe and that water will "gradually return" to homes throughout the day.

They warned that pressure needs to build again, so those impacted may not see supply "restored immediately".

The water company also said: "When your water returns it may discloured at first, this is normal."

"Tankers remain in the area supporting, they're pumping additional water into the network, so far in excess of 3.5 million litres have been pumped, with more being pumped today."

Thames Water have also "opened bottled water stations" at the Sainsbury's on Witan Way in Witney and the Morrisons on Black Bourton Road in Carterton.

This comes after Ofwat proposed a £22million fine for South East Water on Thursday.

The water regulator determined the fine due to repeated supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 286,000 customers.

South East Water had failed to maintain key infrastructure and did not properly plan for periods of high demand or extreme weather, Ofwat said.

Investigators found the system was left more vulnerable to failure during prolonged dry spells and freeze-thaw conditions in Kent and Sussex.

It also concluded that key infrastructure, including service reservoirs, boreholes and major pipes, had not been properly maintained.

The watchdog said the disruptions left some customers without tap water entirely, meaning they were unable to shower, bathe or flush their toilets.

Investigators also found the company’s response to incidents was “slow and disorganised”, with shortages of bottled water and insufficient tankers for affected communities.

There was also not enough support for vulnerable customers during the outages, the regulator said.

Ofwat added that the company had failed to learn lessons from earlier crises, including disruption caused by the Beast from the East, the 2018 storm that brought a coldwave across the UK and Ireland.

Chris Walters, Ofwat’s interim chief executive, said South East Water’s “significant failings caused major disruption and had a huge impact on thousands of its customers”.

He added that the company had not only failed in its duty to provide a reliable water supply but had also fallen short in supporting customers who lost their service.

Mr Walters said the investigation “gets to the heart of the company’s supply resilience problems”, adding that regulators now expect the firm to “take more responsibility and get on with fixing things for its customers.”