to wonder why this hasnt made the news given we are in a pandemic.

[HeIenaDove]

Thames Water customers without water in East London. Supermarkets quickly selling out of bottled water.

Over to you Sadiq Boris Matt Hancock. Im sure we will see a big statement about this from them given their concern for public health.

twitter.com/ecJulie/status/1313611112764637185?s=20

I first of heard of it on here at about 8pm. Is it not back on yet😞? Chaos

This is unfortunately nothing particularly unusual and also nothing to do with politicians on any side or remotely newsworthy outside of the areas affected. Thames Water as a private company should be providing access to sufficient bottled water for drinking for these residents as per the protocols for unplanned water outages which have been in place for many a year.

Agree @StatisticalSense but we are in a pandemic. If its so unprecedented that the public are facing fines for not wearing masks then its unprecedented for companies too. There will have been NHS workers getting home tonight unable to wash. Its not just about drinking.

From their fb page.

"At a minimum you’d expect bottled water to be made available to those who are self-isolating"

We had low pressure in part of our town a few months ago and Severn Trent water distributed bottled water door to door and set up collection points on a retail park. I’m not sure why this is covid related?

Why is people refusing to wash their hands Covid related (which is posted about a lot on this board) but not being able to wash their hands isnt?

It's everything to do with politicians. If they hadn't privatised the fucking water companies we could have had some say over these fuck ups.

Thanks for posting this, I have some elderly relatives in the area and will call them tomorrow to check all is ok.

@Inkpaperstars Hope they are ok

How long has it been going on for?

The water supply where I live disappears without warning at least a couple of times a year, for hours at a time. It has happened at least twice since March. And our electricity is regularly off too. Not a densely populated area though, so probably only a few thousand people are ever affected, so it doesn't result in scenes like that. It's always worrying though when you don't know how long it will last.

Dh scoffs at me for having supplies of everything including water.

Sorry posted too soon. I hope it goes back on soon.

To be fair this exact same scenario has happened in United Utilities areas several times and not made the news.

Over the last few years.

But I do hope it gets back on soon. It’s rubbish and I feel bad for you bit not major news (yet).

@Mummyoflittledragon Im not personally affected as im in North Essex just to clarify but i hope the same.

Why Matt Hancock?

Helena
No we don’t live in the area. Thanks. Being scared of not having water must be the most awful as it’s so fundamental to life.

Because its a public health issue. Its not just about masks, Everything else has to come into play too.

You cant criticise , gaslight and blame the public for not wearing masks not social distancing , not sanitising or washing their hands enough yet ignore it when a major company stops people from doing the latter. Its disingenuous and hypocritical.

It's on the BBC news app

I know it's unusual but not everything happening in London gets in the news.

Thanks Helena

I live there and many of my family members. There's no drama hence no news. Like true Londoners they're just rolling up their sleeves and sorting out alternatives. It happened a lot when the Olympic site was being built years ago so plenty of practice.

@Mummyoflittledragon

Helena No we don’t live in the area. Thanks. Being scared of not having water must be the most awful as it’s so fundamental to life.

Well, yeah it is but we are hardly talking about a threat to life if it goes off for a few hours are we ? Especially since shops are full of drinks and the water people distribute bottled water if needed within the rules of its off for a set time.

Water goes off to areas of every country in the world from time to time. It’s hardly newsworthy unless it was millions of people for days on end.

Did Thames water distribute any bottled water? They didn’t give us any and someone was home all day. Our corner shop ran out off water and dh had to drive few mile to get some. It is back on again.

Ds2 was on his last day of self isolation (got an email to isolate only him) and we have a 5month baby (luckily I ebf so no panic over here not being able to make formula). Yet no one offered us water from Thames water and the phone line just rang.

Luckily it is back on now.

It is a public health issue. How would schools and business open, if they don’t have water for people to wash their hands or flush toilets? Water is not only for drinking.