Thousands of homes across the UK have been left without water as pipes burst as a result of the thaw which has followed freezing temperatures.

In a joint statement following the severe weather, Thames Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Affinity Water are asking their customers who have water to use as little as possible while they get things back to normal.

Sunday saw 6000 homes in Sussex and around 20000 in London without water due to burst pipes.

Following the recent freeze and rapid thaw, water companies across London and the South East of England are experiencing exceptionally high levels of demand for water due to multiple bursts on networks and an increase in leaks in and on customer properties.

The water companies said that while not all areas are affected equally, significant numbers of customers are currently without water or have low pressure.

Following the recent freeze and rapid thaw, there have been multiple bursts across their networks which is causing low pressure or loss of supply.

The utilities are working with local authorities, police and fire services through local resilience forums to make sure vulnerable customers are identified and providing bottled water where needed.

“We are putting as much extra water as we can into our local networks and fixing leaks and bursts as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologise to all those who are currently without water or experiencing low pressure. Right now we really need all our customers’ support and understanding to help us rebuild supplies in our networks for everyone as quickly as possible.” The statement said.

The water companies have been facing some unprecedented challenges across their networks, with teams working night and day to fix bursts and detect leaks caused by the extreme weather conditions.

Northumbrian Water crews across the North East have dealt with frozen pipes, network disruptions, power-cuts to Northumbrian Water sites and high levels of calls as some of the heaviest winter weather in years struck the region.

A large proportion of the water companies’ sites are covered by alarm systems that warn when something goes wrong. Teams have been dealing with an increase in alarms from sites, due to snow so deep that it prevented their normal operation.