THAMES WATER says it is continuing to work on fixing Reading’s water supply as the town faces a fourth day of disruption, and tankers are used to bring water to the town.
Although the water company thinks all homes should now have some supply, it warned that some homes in the RG1 area could see supplies limited during peak times.
This has been confirmed by residents in east Reading who have told Reading Today that their taps are dry and they have no water pressure.
The company has set up a bottled water station in the Tesco Extra store in Napier Road. This is open until 9pm on Tuesday, January 23, and the firm says there is no need to get out of the car as its crews will place water in to it.
On Saturday, a problem at Thames Water’s treatment works in Pangbourne saw water pressure drop across the town. Some homes reported no water, while others couldn’t get enough to heat their homes.
Water stations were set up in The Meadway in Tilehurst and the Savacentre at Calcot to allow affected residents have access to bottled water.
The problem was thought to have been resolved by Sunday lunchtime, but an airlock in the system meant homes in the RG1, RG8, RG30 and RG31 area were once again seeing water dribble out of their taps, rather than gush.
On Monday, schools and offices were forced to close as the low water pressure meant it was unsafe to stay open.
A Thames Water spokesperson told Reading Today: “We’re really sorry to customers in the Reading, Pangbourne, Tilehurst and nearby areas who continue to experience low water pressure.
“We have over nine tankers supplying water in the area to meet demand and improve water pressure. We also have over 50 engineers in the area fixing leaks and removing airlocks from our network and are repairing over 10 burst water mains, following the cold weather last week.
“We expect water pressure to improve in the coming days as we carry out repairs and as reservoir levels increase, following a technical issue at Pangbourne Water Treatment Works, which was resolved on Saturday.
“We have also re-opened the bottled water station at Tesco Extra on Napier Road which will remain open until 9pm tonight (Tuesday 23 January). We continue to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Service Register.
“All our customers should now have some water supply, but it may be at a lower pressure than normal. Customers with no water should contact us on 0800 316 9800.
“We’d like to thank our customers for their continued patience while we fix this, they can find the latest updates by visiting our website.”
For more details, log on to: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/network-latest/pangbourne-wtw-outage-20-jan-2024