No running water for over 48 hours 😢

[mimi14]

Just that. Our water stopped at 5pm on Saturday, due to a power cut at the water treatment center. They keep estimating a time it will be reconnected, which keeps changing of course. It's out of their hands I guess as they are waiting for UK power networks to fix their issue, but it is awful.

I will never take it for granted again. It's been really difficult to manage as a family of 4.

The toilet is beyond disgusting. We've been filling the cistern every now and again and giving it a flush, but this obviously uses lots of our drinking water every time.

No real point to this post, just wanted to vent really. Has anyone else lost water for so long?

Isnt that a hygiene risk? Have the water company supplied you with water?

It probably is a hygiene risk 😕. We've been putting bleach in, opening the window and keeping the door shut between flushes but it's not ideal.

They've supplied 12 litres a day so far, which doesn't go very far. We've bought extra and filled up our empty bottles at DH's work.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was an end in sight.

I didn’t mean the toilet.

I mean being without water. Also cooking drinking washing all requires so much water.

Ask for more. We lost water for a day and I asked for water and we got told they didn’t hand it out, spoke to someone else and they gave out loads, said to ring when we’d run out.

Have you any rainwater you can use to flush the loo? If you tip it from a height in a bucket you can flush everything away.

It's really shown me just how much water we actually use!
We're close to giving up and going to a hotel but it's really not affordable at the moment.
They didn't even start providing water until yesterday afternoon, almost 24 hours after it stopped! And the updates they've provided have been brief and useless. I'm so stressed!

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Have you any rainwater you can use to flush the loo? If you tip it from a height in a bucket you can flush everything away.

Actually this isn't such a bad idea! If you have a water butt and it's full. Fill a bucket from that and pour it down the toilet.

We don't have a water butt, kicking myself now that we never got one. Have ordered a load of water on our shopping, just to use to chuck down the toilet 🤦🏻‍♀️

Places to "find" water are a rain butt, the tray in condenser driers, buckets etc in the garden after the rain the past few days etc. To use in a bucket, kitchen basin, large bowl or pot etc, to fill about 3-5 litres at a time and use to flush by holding it at chest level above the toilet bowl and pouring from there (dropping it from higher reduces the amount of water needed as it adds pressure to help empty whats currently in the toilet bowl). Also, put a bin with a lid and lined with a plastic bag/nappy sack in the toilet, to put used tissue into (especially for wee), which reduces the need to flush so often - keep the limited water supplies for flushing poo. (We learned the bin trick on a visit to China - just empty the bin to the outside bin daily and reline).

Prioritise drinking water.

And use any large bottles that have lids (camping barrels, 5l water bottles from shops once used, even large milk cartons rinsed out) to refill from DH's office or other friends/family who still have water.

Let DCs have other drinks for a few days - at least intermittantly - cans of fizzy drinks, bottles of pre-made ribena/squash, cartons of fruit juice, cups of hot chocolate made on milk etc. As an emergency and part of how we must all get through it (so they know not to expect that normal service will resume once supplies are restored).

Also, things like tins of fruit for dessert with their own juice can be useful. If you need to defrost food, put it sitting over a pot to let the condensation drip down - which can then be used to steam some veg etc. Things like couscous use a lot less water than rice or pasta, and think about baking/roasting (or frying) things rather than boiling.

@mimi14

Just that. Our water stopped at 5pm on Saturday, due to a power cut at the water treatment center. They keep estimating a time it will be reconnected, which keeps changing of course. It's out of their hands I guess as they are waiting for UK power networks to fix their issue, but it is awful.

I will never take it for granted again. It's been really difficult to manage as a family of 4.

The toilet is beyond disgusting. We've been filling the cistern every now and again and giving it a flush, but this obviously uses lots of our drinking water every time.

No real point to this post, just wanted to vent really. Has anyone else lost water for so long?

Is that the Deal issue?

We lost water for 10 days, in summer 3 years back.

Luckily we could go around the corner to family for showers etc. Due to the issue being caused by a neighbour, the water company did nothing!

I’m so sorry you’re going through this, it sounds horrific

Is it worth speaking to your buildings insurer to find out if you can claim for alternative accommodation as your property is not habitable?

Put any buckets or basins in the garden now, under any places there are drips or water gathers - even a table slightly tilted so it all gathers in 1 spot can be relatively good to collect water.

Any drips in guttering, or downpipes from the roof that you can get a bucket or receptacle under would be good. Or the edges of roofs on sheds. Especially if there are still rain showers happening.

Rainwater is perfect for toilets - it doesn't need to be treated, it can have some bits of grit/leaves etc as they will still go through the sewers, and it saves the treated water (especially if you have to buy it) for drinking, cooking and cleaning needs.

Thank you so much for all the helpful tips.
Our outdoor tap still had a tiny stream of water coming from it, assuming what was left in the pipes, so we left a bucket under that for a few hours earlier and it filled a bit. Leaving the bucket out and will pray for rain!

DS has special needs and will only drink water, and lots of it too. He's been getting through quite a lot but DD is very excited to be allowed lots of juice and lemonade.

I'm a cleaner and one of my clients has very kindly offered for me to use her shower tomorrow, I'm so excited after days of flannel washes and dry shampoo 🤣.

We're near Hastings East sussex. Some of my friends are in an even worse position and have been without electricity and water since Friday! We lost power for about 7 hours Friday but has been fine since luckily.

What about emptying the water from the washing machine - you know when you drain the bit with the flap at the bottom- ours always has about two pans worth in- just for using as a flush for the loo?

Good idea, will do that now!

Haven't emptied it for ages cos I'm lazy so there's probably loads 🤣

Ring the water company and ask for more water. They have loads of it.

You shouldn’t have to buy drinking water for the toilet

Definitely safe the washing up water, cooking water for the toilet flush bucket.

I’d also think about filling old plastic bottles up with river/sea water if you can. It won’t hurt the sewage system. I actually think we should use grey water for flushing toilets anyway.

Once when our water went off - I went out to speak with them because I had a child with a vomiting bug and I was really stressed with how to manage it. They linked our house up manually to the hydrant (emergency emergency mains supply) - can they do something like that for you???

I also think they are legally required to give you water on an onging basis after it's been off for a certain period of time. OR put you up in a hotel.

I don't think the company is doing as much as it should to be honest.
They're not delivering water, you have to go and collect it from a few different locations. The nearest one to us is 2 miles, which is ok for us, but wouldn't be if we didn't drive! They will deliver it if you're on their priority list as being physically disabled, elderly or have an under 5. DS has autism but that's not enough to get us on their priority list. Fair enough, I know there are people with higher need than us.

Also, apparently OFWAT says they need to provide 10 litres per person, per day, so we should've had 80 litres from them already, yet the guys at the collection point said they've been told to give each household 6 2 litre bottles per day 🤦🏻‍♀️.

I’m near to you and we’ve had nothing all day today - can’t imagine how hard it must be to get through 48 hours! We’ve had nothing from the water company yet but I’ve emptied the tumble dryer, hot water bottles etc for flushing the toilet and now resorted to scraping off all the ice that’s collected in the freezer

I've just checked the offwat website and it says the water company MUST provide you with AT LEAST 10l of water per person per day. So at least go armed with that information and get your basic allocation.

www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-interruptions

Sorry, I see you are aware - I would make a fuss - they cannot get away with giving you less than the bare minimum. Completely unacceptable.

Have you got water back on?

No, still off, they've now changed their estimation to midnight tonight. Apparently the reservoir close to us has power but is empty, and they can't fill it because the power needed to fill it comes from elsewhere wtf.

We're off to my dad's after work for hot showers and to fill up our water bottles!