Fears that 31,000 properties on the Isle of Wight could lose water by the end of today have been somewhat alleviated, with Southern Water saying that there is now no ‘immediate risk’ to the water supply – but an overall risk of disruption still remains.
Bottled water has been distributed to properties in the South Wight overnight and into this morning amid fears that 11,000 households would wake up to find themselves without water, or with very low pressure.
As first reported by Island Echo, it was said that a further 20,000 properties faced losing water by tonight – around half the Island.
Water collection points have been set up at Tesco in Ryde and Amazon World near Newchurch, but these have not yet been activated. The fact they have been set up demonstrates that Southern Water is still concerned that there is a risk of disruption to the fresh water supply.
Although it is dry outside now, further heavy downpours are expected tonight and throughout Friday. The weekend is also looking wet and windy, bringing additional pressure on the Island’s water courses and the Southern Water network.
A spokesperson for Southern Water has said:
“Our teams continued to work hard through the night to keep all customers in supply and are in a better position this morning. However, while we fully recover our network back to normal there remains a risk of disruption.
“Our incident teams continue to work on full recovery of the network. We are monitoring the situation and weather pattern so that we can prepare to respond should anything change”.
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UPDATED @ 12:55 – Following contact with DEFRA Island MP Bob Seely has said that Carisbrooke Water Supply Works has restarted, although it is operating at a lower capacity than normal.
Burp burp burp pardon me
Southern Water must have realised that paying out £20 compensation to all customers and providing unlimited bottled water would severely dent their profits.
No way you cheapskate
£20 times 30,000 homes would be £600,000 per day. They probably tried to get away with it but OFWAT told them there is no way out of it.
Just wondering why some commenters can’t give credit where it is due….Whilst like everyone else I have issues with how SW is run by the Management and their endless wasting of money, not fixing what needs fixing and charging us more for their ineptitude, there have been some hard working staff overnight to help rectify the problems to minimise issues to the public.
So they say. What exactly do you think they were doing? Did it involve a row of people with buckets? More likely one person staring at a screen tutting and praying for no more rain.
Think you missed the point!!! Doesn’t matter what they were doing, they still needed to try and fix the problem and that took some hard working people working around the clock to limit the disruption. Hence the original comment of credit where it is due!
You have obviously never worked in the water industry. I have.
It shouldn’t be an industry; it should be a service, publically owned and operated on a not for profit basis for the sole benefit of it’s consumers.
Nope never.
You have worked in every industry going according to your superior knowledge and comments.
Healthcare, social care, dentistry, environmental, crime, retail. And many others.
Are you out there now?
Didnt think so
A well rounded education and plenty of experience are not to be sneered at. You keep your blinkers on and I will call out the bullshit.
Yeah.Well said Mr Rocky, If SW where giving out free cars, some people would moan that its the wrong colour
So, Southern Water must be aware that there is a risk of further heavy rainfall to follow later. Have they/IWC/Island Roads made any attempt to clear gullies and drains that were responsible for the previous flooding knowing full well that this was the problem that caused the recent floods?
Yes they have!
The Southern Water website is showing an incident with “No water/low pressure” in Ventnor. Is anyone affected?
And they want to build more properties in Ryde
Lol!!
Southern Water preparing for the worst !! So have contracted with Island Roads then ..!!
Ok, I’ll admit I’m not particularly clued up on how this all works …
can someone explain to me how extreme rainfall leads to loss of water supply please?
genuine question!
Likely that the water treatment works aren’t built to cope with the amount of water flowing at the moment and the fact that it is probably full of sewage and animal waste. Treatment works can only process mucky water very slowly or there is a risk of infecting us all with microbes such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Not what you want.
Thankyou!
I presumed that the inflow would be separate from the treatment area (piped in as needed) then sent out as fresh water.
I guess this whole process is continual to keep supply constant, not done in ‘batches’ but I did presume that the dirty water would be in tanks of some description and there for the input rate would remain consistent which is why I was confused as to why excessive rain fall would change that
something for my little brain to ponder!
The water does initially enter flocculation tanks where a chemical takes out the majority of the muck in a floc but nasty microbes can get through this step, which is why it is then treated with chlorine. But microbes like Giardia and Cryptosporidium can resist chlorine. There are variations using membranes and filters, as well as UV disinfection but the process needs to operate below a certain maximum rate to be effective. Really mucky water washed by heavy rain from fields covered in cattle and sheep dung is teeming with microbes like Giardia and Cryptosporidium, so it cannot be treated quickly.
Southern waters version of distribution of bottled water was to deliver it to the first few houses in each road, then when Elders and vulnerable eventually get the Chinese whispers to go collect it ,it was all gone. Some could not even get to the place it was delivered.
hope the CEO s bonus do not get cut off