Thousands of Thames Water customers in Surrey are still without water after a major incident was declared following problems at the water company’s Shalford water treatment works attributed to the impact of Storm Ciaran last week.

Surrey County Council declared the major incident after as many as 12,000 Thames Water customers in the Guildford were left with no water or low pressure – the incident is currrently still ongoing.

An update published on the Thames Water website at 7.28am this morning said that engineers have made improvements at Shalford water treatment works, following problems caused by Storm Ciaran.

However, it went on to warn that supplies are “likely to only gradually return over the course of today (Monday). It also says that although the situation is improving, the water company needs to refill underground reservoirs which have run very low. Thames is also using a fleet of tankers to pump water into the local pipe system.

“We closed our bottled water stations overnight but will re-open them at 9am today, at Artington Park and Ride, Old Portsmouth Rd, Guildford GU3 1LP, and Crown Court Car Park, The Burys, Godalming GU7 1HR,” the update says.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, who is the MP for South West Surrey, has been closely following progress and providing his own updates on Twitter – now known as X.

He first tweeted yesterday he was aware of the low / no water supply affecting many residents in his constituency - including much of Godalming and surrounding villages saying he was speaking with Alastair Cochran CEO / MD of Thames Water.

His following tweet stated:

“14.50 update from Thames Water CEO: They currently have 13,500 customers off supply and expect a further 6,500 to lose supply shortly. The site controls at Shalford Water Treatment Works have been reset and they're testing turbidity at low water production volumes.”

At 5.04 pm the MP tweeted that there was a further Gold Command meeting at 18.30 to set the overnight strategy including impact on schools and primary care.

This was followed by saying he had heard from Surrey Gold Command and TW CEO that Thames “were hoping to bring Shalford treatment works back on line within next hour having identified the cause now. They have significantly reduced water turbidity and are hopeful that the alarms will not trip once it has gone through.”

One of his constituents responded.

“Thank you for the update. It took about 24h for a major incident to be declared though which given the scale of the situation is way too slow particularly in terms of clarity re. running and access to key services. Lessons to be learned.”

Hunt also tweeted commenting “Crown Court Car Park water station last night...was it necessary to close it when so many people were waiting to get water?” accompanied by the following picture.

Other Twitter users separately flagged up the issue, referring to “long queues for the water station at Crown Court in Godalming” and “huge queues at Artington” with “nothing done by @SurreyPolice.”

He went on to raise the question of what the impact would be on schools today if it was not resolved, adding that he was also “getting messages from pubs that have lost trade from closing on a busy day - big big impact on many people.”

In a further post 19 hours ago, the MP said he had been updated by Alastair Cochrane who had told him that Thames were “resetting and reprogramming” the control system which “should be finished around now” and that “if successful they will be able to restore supply to affected customers.” Thames were “tankering water to ensure that they can support hospitals and bottled water stations remain open.”

The MP’s latest tweet at 8.30pm last night says:

“Final update from me today unless we have further significant changes. Thames Water say their plan appears to be working and they are slowly ramping up production over the next 5 hours.”

Alastair Cochran is the current Interim Co-Chief Executive Officer of the water company, a role he shares with Cathryn Ross, former Chief Executive at water sector regulator Ofwat.

Cathryn Ross was CEO at Ofwat from October 2013 until the end of 2017 when she left to join the private sector at BT. She was responsible for finalising the methodology for the 2019 price review, which covers the current AMP8 2020-25 investment programme.

Thames Water - "supplies are likely to only gradually return over the course of today"

Thames Water’s latest update on its website at 9.49am this morning states:

“We’re currently making preparations to re-open our two bottled water stations, after Storm Ciaran caused issues at Shalfrod Water Treatment Works.

“We’re sorry for the delay and will let you know as soon as they’re up and running.

“The sites are at Artington Park and Ride, Old Portsmouth Rd, Guildford GU3 1LP, and Crown Court Car Park, The Burys, Godalming GU7 1HR.

“Our engineers have made improvements at Shalford. However, supplies are likely to only gradually return over the course of today. We’d like to apologise if you’ve been affected by these issues across GU1, GU2, GU3, GU5, GU6, GU7 and GU8.

“Although the situation is improving, we need to refill underground reservoirs which have run very low. We’re continuing to operating a fleet of tankers, pumping water into the local supply network.”

Widespread criticism in national and local print and online media

The incident is being widely reported in both national and local print and online media – with residents taking to Twitter – now known as X - to express their anger and criticism about lack of communication by the water company and problems with obtaining bottled water. Concern was also expressed about problems experienced by vulnerable customers who had been unable to obtain bottled water delivery.

Commenting on BBC Breakfast this morning David Bird, retail director at Thames Water said:

"We have been delivering to over 100,000 customers to ensure they have got water.

"All vulnerable customers on our priority services register received water before the supply actually impacted them. We've been replenishing those supplies and will continue to do so."

Twitter users flag up failures in communication and helping vulnerable customers

Comments by other users of Twitter - X included:

“14h My care home is without water and it’s been nearly 24 hours. I have 53 residents leaving with dementia and have only been given 30 bottles of water. These are high need people who rely on water for medication, washing, cooking and keeping the home clean. This is not acceptable.”

“It is ridiculous that we rely on comms. on social media from our MP via the CEO for updates. Surely TW can provide this information themselves via their website and inform those manning TW online chat which currently offers nothing but platitudes by way of meaningful updates.”

“We need a timeframe. This is getting difficult to manage now. 2 small children, partner needs an operation on Tuesday, school/nursery likely to close. Intense work week ahead. Please give us an ETA.”

“This has been going on since Thursday evening now @thameswater Water off for the majority of the time, no updates or messages to customers."

Will you be compensating your customers? And when can we expect to have ‘normal’ water again?”

“When do we get a water collection point in Milford? It’s urgently needed.”

“How long are you going to take fixing this?. Storm or not, this isn't good enough!”

“As a vulnerable customer, I was told that bottled water would be delivered by 12:30 pm. Nothing so far”

“Fix it right in the first place , wouldn't have this issue then.”

“Will we be receiving compensation for the last three days of appalling service”

“Please advise how an elderly person with restricted mobility is able to access the bottled water??

“This is completely unacceptable we’ve had hardly any supply for 3 days.. can’t shower, flush toilets, wash clothes. We had a similar experience last year. If only we could change to a more reliable provider…”

Professor Nigel Wright, Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering at Birmingham, also took to Twitter, commenting:

“No, a lack of planning and investment in resilience has caused this. Don’t pass the buck!”