Thames Water burst main disrupts supplies in London and Surrey

A large burst water main in West Molesey, Surrey, has disrupted water supplies across south London and parts of Surrey. Thames Water reported that the incident initially affected up to 15,000 properties, though that number later decreased to approximately 6,000.

The outage has impacted several boroughs, including Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, and Wandsworth, as well as Elmbridge and Spelthorne in Surrey. The disruption has caused schools, such as Long Ditton Infant and Nursery School and Thames Ditton Infant School, to close.

Residents have faced low water pressure or total loss of supply, leading to queues for bottled water at local supermarkets. Local businesses have also offered assistance, with some providing water tanks to vulnerable residents. Thames Water stated that specialist teams are on-site and working to reroute water, but warned that repairs may take some time due to the location of the fault.

Local representatives, including Monica Harding MP and Paul Kohler MP, have called for an urgent response to protect vulnerable communities and have raised concerns regarding infrastructure underinvestment.