Thames Water apologizes after 17,000 in London go 5 days without running water in summer heat

For 17,000 people in East London, a summer heat wave coincided with a five-day loss of running water after a water main burst.

Thames Water apologized, but the prolonged outage raised the question of how so many residents were left without running water for days as temperatures climbed into the mid-30 degrees Celsius (mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit).

Here's what to know

According to The Standard, households on both sides of the East London border relied on bottled water from Aug. 9 until Aug. 14 after a main burst in Chigwell, Essex. Another pipe failure in South Woodford worsened the disruption.

At Fairlop Waters Country Park and other collection points, residents spent hours waiting for bottled supplies, and some households went days without being able to shower.

The heat made the outage even harder for families, with elderly people and young children among those left without reliable water at home.

Kam Rai, the leader of Redbridge Council, said residents faced "significant and unacceptable inconvenience and distress" and that Thames Water's performance "did not meet" expectations, per The Standard.

Councillors also faulted the company's communication and said collection sites experienced "really serious congestion."

More background

The U.K.'s largest water company, Thames Water serves 16 million people across London and the Thames Valley, The Standard reported.

"We're sorry to all customers who were left without water or experienced low pressure following the burst water main in Chigwell," a spokesperson said. "We understand the frustration and disruption this caused, particularly for customers who have experienced previous supply issues in the area."

The event added to scrutiny over whether the debt-laden private utility can keep essential infrastructure reliable.

Local officials pressed for an explanation of what went wrong. A council motion stated residents "deserve a full explanation of the causes of the incident [and] the adequacy of Thames Water's response" as policymakers weighed the company's future and a possible £10 billion ($13.2 billion) rescue takeover from lenders.

What's being done?

Redbridge councillors want Thames Water to meet with Rai and have senior executives answer questions from the council's external scrutiny committee.

The company said it "welcomed" a meeting with Redbridge representatives.

"Throughout the incident our teams worked around the clock to repair the damaged pipe, restore supplies, support vulnerable customers, deliver bottled water, operate bottled water stations, and provide regular updates to customers," the spokesperson said, according to The Standard.

Council officers also stepped in Aug. 14 with door-to-door deliveries for 2,700 homes that remained affected.

Residents could use walk-up showers at Fullwell Cross Leisure Centre, Ashton Playing Fields, Mayfield Leisure Centre, and Woodford Green Library & Gym.

"We are committed to continuous improvement as we seek to improve the resilience of our network, strengthen our response arrangements and reduce the risk of similar incidents in future," the spokesperson added. "As part of our biggest-ever upgrade of water infrastructure in 150 years, we are investing in the renewal and replacement of hundreds of kilometres of water mains across our network to improve resilience and reduce the risk of bursts."

Where can I learn more?

Water outages and supply shocks are affecting communities far beyond East London.

• In Pennsylvania, residents asked who is responsible after home water supplies abruptly failed.

• In Iraq, crude oil spilled into a major waterway, disrupting access for 100,000 people.

• Around the world, cities are embracing extreme water recycling as droughts tighten supplies.

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