LONDON – London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said on Monday it was“unacceptable”that thousands of people across the British capital were left without waterafter pipes burst as normal weather conditions returned following a coldsnap.
The worst snowstorms in Britain for nearly 30 years froze water in pipeslast week, water suppliers said, during a blast of Siberian cold dubbed“theBeast from the East” which ground planes, stopped trains, blocked roads andshut schools.
At least 23,800 households, including 12,000 households in London, wereleft without water when pipes burst when temperatures rose and snow thawed,prompting suppliers to advise customers not to waste water.
“It is unacceptable that thousands of Londoners remain without water thismorning,” Khan said on Twitter.“I have sought assurances from Thames Waterthat they are doing everything possible to fix the problems and get thesupply switched back on for everyone.”
At a supermarket in Balham, south London, Thames Water employeesdistributed crates of bottled water to a waiting queue of people, while inHampstead to the north of the capital, they ferried crates to residentialstreets in their own cars.
Suppliers warned disruption would continue as they worked to fix leaks andrefill pipes and Thames Water advised its 15 million customers to cut theirusage.
“Where possible, take short showers rather than baths, do not leave tapsrunning unnecessarily and only run washing machines and dish washers whenyou have a full load,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Severn Trent, a supplier of water to 4.3 million homes and businesses inthe middle of England, said the number of burst pipes was up 4000 percent,while in Wales, Welsh Water said“unprecedented challenges” had affected4,500 homes.
Farther north, Scottish Water said there was no significant impact on itscustomers because Scotland had not suffered the same rapid thaw. – Agencies