Thames Water isolated a burst main in Molesey after up to 15,000 properties in Surrey and south London lost water or experienced low pressure. Local infant schools closed and parts of Molesey reported flooding as engineers rerouted supplies and worked overnight on a permanent repair. Thames Water is providing bottled water to vulnerable customers and opening public distribution points while facing criticism over its debt and asset management.
Burst Mains Leave Thousands Without Water in Surrey and South London as Repairs Continue Overnight
Thames Water said its engineers were doing everything they could to get the water back on [LDRS]
Thames Water has isolated a burst mains pipe in Molesey after a failure early on Wednesday left up to 15,000 properties in parts of Surrey and south London with no water or very low pressure. Engineers are working around the clock to reroute supplies and complete a permanent repair, and the company says most customers should see supply restored shortly.
What Happened
The fault was first reported at about 05:15 BST. The outage affected communities including Thames Ditton, Esher and Sunbury. Thames Water said it had isolated the damaged main in Molesey and rerouted water around its network; once temporary supply routes were established the number of customers impacted fell to around 6,000.
Helen Ryder, who runs a flower shop in Thames Ditton [Zac Sherratt / BBC]
Impact On Residents And Businesses
“We have none at all, it didn't even trickle out a bit,” said Jane Allen of West Molesey, who was alerted to the outage by a neighbour at about 07:30. “I have six bottles of water in the house, which will be fine for drinking but we won't be able to do anything else. My next door neighbour's mother is 90, so it will be much worse for her.”
Local infant schools — Long Ditton Infant and Nursery School and Thames Ditton Infant School — closed for the day because of the loss of supply. Businesses were also affected: Helen Ryder, who runs a flower shop in Thames Ditton, said staff and stock had to be prioritised. Images and reports showed local flooding at Nielsen Recreation Ground in Molesey after the main burst.
Response From Thames Water
Thames Water said its on-site teams began rerouting water and diverting further supplies into the affected area. The company committed to delivering bottled water to registered vulnerable customers and opening public bottled-water distribution points. A bottled water station was due to open in the afternoon, with the location to be confirmed.
Nielsen Recreation Ground, in Molesey, was flooded by the burst [PA Media]
The company apologised for the disruption and said engineers remained at the scene working on a permanent repair. Thames Water noted it invested £2.7bn in infrastructure in 2025/26 and plans to increase investment to £4bn by 2030.
Political Reaction
Esher and Walton MP Monica Harding said she was "pushing for an urgent response" and described flooding in parts of Molesey. She praised frontline crews but warned the incident highlighted ageing infrastructure.
Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader and MP for Kingston and Surbiton, described the outage as "yet another example of Thames Water failing its customers." He and others have pointed to the company's roughly £20bn debt and cited an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee recommendation that ministers consider special administration for the company.
What To Expect Next
Thames Water said customers in some areas, such as Surbiton, should by now be seeing water return, though pressure may remain lower than normal until the permanent repair is completed. The company asked customers to check its updates for bottled water distribution locations and urged those in need to register if vulnerable.
Timeline: Fault reported ~05:15 BST; resident alerted ~07:30; Thames Water reported teams on site and rerouting supplies by 11:25. Engineers are continuing repairs through the day.
Additional reporting was provided by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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