No water for a second day in parts of south London

Thames Water has apologised again to residents across south London who are living without water, or have very little pressure, following a burst water main in Dulwich on Tuesday evening.

The outage is affecting thousands across Crystal Palace, Forest Hill, Sydenham, West Norwood and Streatham, including 7 schools and 3 care homes.

Thames Water said its teams were "working 24 hours a day to resolve the situation" and bottled water was being provided outside Sainsburys in Southend Lane.

The delay in restoring supplies has resulted in complaints to Thames Water on social media and an open letter by the local MP calling for a timescale on repairs and better access to water stations.

Charlotte from Sydenham spoke to BBC London at the Thames Water emergency water station outside Sainsburys on Southend Road. She explained that she had lost her water supply on Wednesday lunch time.

She said after realising the water wasn't coming back on: "We defrosted some ice in the freezer".

Charlotte and her partner were unable to flush the toilet, and so began "saving flushes".

She said it had been their one-year wedding anniversary on Wednesday and it had made it "very stressful".

In the end, they relied on help from friends who had a water supply nearby.

Speaking about accessing the Thames Water emergency bottled water supplies, Charlotte said: "This is not that convenient for us – we've had to walk for 40 minutes to get down here – I don't have a car.

"We are going to have to take this water back on the bus. It feels like they should be doing this at more locations considering the water has been off for so long."

Some customers took their complaints about the situation online.

Writing to Thames Water on Facebook, one customer said: "This is ridiculous, still no water. Not even the toilet you can use, not everyone is able to go and collect water especially if you don't drive."

Another customer added: "I have had no running water in SE20 since 11 February and it's now the morning of 13. I do not have a car and cannot carry heavy bottles of water on public transport. I've spent a fortune on bottled water over the last few days."

Taking to X, another customer posted: "At 19.47 last night you phoned someone who is housebound and on your "priority" register saying that you would deliver bottled water to her. She sat up waiting all night and she is still waiting."

The MP for Lewisham West and East Dulwich, Ellie Reeves, has published an open letter to the chief executive of Thames Water asking for "action and answers".

"Families with young children and other vulnerable residents have been left without water for over 12 hours with no idea when this will be restored," she wrote.

The MP has also requested the water supplier to provide more than one water bottle station for customers.

She added: "This outage comes at a time when you have recently informed many of my constituents that their water bills will rise significantly.

"At a time when many people are already struggling, this outage on top of an increase in bills is extremely concerning."

Thames Water has said it is continuing to update customers in SE19, SE20, SE23, SE26, SE27, and SW16 and said teams worked overnight to reroute water into the network, with water supply now restored to the majority of properties.

It added it would "continue to deliver bottled water to those on our priority services register in the impacted area."

It apologised that the water bottle station was forced to close unexpectedly yesterday "due to a security incident". It said this facility was now open at Sainsburys Southend Lane, SE26 4PU and has apologised for the inconvenience.

It added that a different issue at the Crystal Palace Pumping Station was "also adding to the supply problems".

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