Health fears as water cut off on hottest days

A local GP has said she is concerned for the health of people in a small village near Gloucester which has been without water for more than 48 hours during the hottest days of the year.

Dr Sam Kirkham said Thames Water has made "no attempt" to provide water to residents in Brimpsfield this week and she fears this could cause serious "medical and sanitation" risks.

"I'm concerned for the health of my patients in the area who might not have been able to drink enough water in this weather, especially as it's a fairly isolated and rural population," she added.

A spokesperson for Thames Water apologised and said its teams are "working around clock to keep water flowing by monitoring the network".

Residents in the village said the water was cut off on Wednesday, when temperatures reached highs of 33 degrees.

They claim Thames Water has given no indication when their supply will return, or what has caused the outage.

Dr Kirkham believes a "couple of hundred" people have been impacted, including vulnerable elderly residents and families with young children.

Martin Smith lives in the village and said there hasn't been "a peep or a drip" of water over the past 48 hours.

"Well you can imagine what it's been like. We can't water plants, we can't shower," he added.

Mr Smith, a retired water engineer, said a woman in the village has been offering to give people bottled water.

He has described the response from Thames Water as "utterly negligent".

"Customer service - more like customer lack of service," he added.

"We've had three to for different number for them [Thames Water] and you can't get through to speak to anyone – it's all non-human replies."

Brimpsfield Parish Council member Roger Lock said the water company has shown an "astonishing lack of customer service or customer care".

"It's very, very uncomfortable and unacceptable for the residents," he added.

"People registered for priority service are being ignored by Thames Water as they aren't being provided with even the basics of bottled water."

Mr Lock said the incident raises huge questions for the water company.

"We knew these [weather] warnings were in place, so why weren't mitigations put in?

"Meanwhile our bills have gone up by huge sums each year, where has the money gone?"

Thames Water said demand for water has increased by 9% over the past week and it is encouraging customers to use water "wisely".

A spokesperson added: "Due to the Met Office recently issuing an Amber and Red heat alert across The Thames Valley, we are currently experiencing exceptionally high demand for water in Gloucestershire, which is putting increased pressure on the local network.

"Our teams are working around the clock to keep water flowing by monitoring the network, moving water across the system where possible and responding quickly to any issues."

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