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Millions of residents in London and the South-East have been urged to use "as little water as possible" after extreme weather hit supplies.

Problems and shortages have been reported in Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, Sussex and Surrey.

Burst pipes on networks, an increase in leaks and what's being described as an "exceptionally high demand" for water are being blamed.

Water problems have also hit at least 20,000 homes in London alone - where at least one school says it can't open tomorrow due to the lack of water and one NHS hospital has even tweeted at Thames Water tonight asking for "500 bottles of water for patients".

Weather conditions have also caused a drained reservoir in Hampstead which supplies much of north London.

(Image: Grant Melton)

Emergency bottled water locations are being set up around the capital this evening - as four water firms took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement asking people to 'use less water'.

They admitted "significant" numbers of people are currently without water or are experiencing low pressure.

The locations for people to obtain bottled water include Hampstead in North London and Streatham in South London.

(Image: Stephen HUntley/HVC) (Image: Grant Melton/Mercury Press) (Image: Grant Melton)

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Customers are bing urged to avoid using water for "anything that isn't essential".

Their advice includes to:

Take short showers instead of baths

Turn taps off

Only run washing machines and dishwashers with a full load.

The South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust asked Thames Water on Twitter for 500 bottles of water for patients at the Springfield Hospital site at 8.50pm.

Shortly after 6pm Dunraven School in Streatham said they would be forced to close on Monday because of the lack of water supply.

Some Twitter users have begged Thames Water to set up a bottled water supplies in the area after being without power since 10pm on Saturday.

Holly Keebs tweeted: "What’s the situation in Streatham? We had low pressure all day, but still had water. Now they’re saying it’s fixed, but now I have no water?"

Louise Young tweeted: "It's been almost 72hours since no water to a number of properties was reported and no help sent since!"

(Image: Grant Melton/Mercury Press)

In Rotherfield in East Sussex crowds gathered outside in the rain as they waited for their bottles of water to arrive. Some had been waiting since 9am today.

Burst pipes on networks and an increase in leaks are leading to exceptionally high demand for water.

Engineers have been seen working on burst water mains across London.



South East Water have set up a bottled water station Lenham. They added it was doing "everything we can to fix the issue as quickly as possible" which has some people with no water since breakfast time yesterday.

Some residents have taken desperate measures in their homes, with one reporting they were flushing their loo with buckets of snow.

Customers are being asked to avoid using water for "anything that isn't essential".

(Image: Grant Melton) (Image: Grant Melton/Mercury Press) (Image: Grant Melton/Mercury Press)

Taking short showers rather than baths, being careful to turn taps off and only running washing machines and dishwashers with a full load are recommended.

Shops in affected areas have reportedly run out of bottled water in some of the worst-affected areas.

The shortage is affecting Thames Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Affinity Water.

In a joint statement they said: “We’ve seen an increase in leaks and bursts on our network, which we are urgently dealing with as fast as we possibly can.

"But the sudden and widespread surge in demand, coinciding with the rise in temperatures, means we also need to urge all our customers to check their own pipes for bursts and call a plumber if necessary.

“Outside taps are especially vulnerable to freezing temperatures and bursts may not be obvious. We would also ask anyone responsible for commercial premises, which may not have been visited since the thaw started, to make sure their pipes have not been damaged.

(Image: South East Water)

“We are getting as much extra water into our network as we can and sincerely apologise to all our customers who are currently without water or who have low pressure.

“Right now we really need our customers’ support and understanding to help us to get everyone back into supply quickly by avoiding non-essential uses of water, having a shower instead of a bath for example, for the time being.

"In the meantime our teams are working hard to prioritise services for vulnerable customers and stand up locations from which our customers can collect bottled water.”

A statement on the South East Water website said: "Yesterday the high demand resulted in 630 million litres of water being treated and sent out into the network compared to an average of 500 million litres of water on a normal winter’s day.

"This extra water would be enough to fill 50 Olympic sizes swimming pools."

(Image: Twitter)

The Thames Water helpline is unavailable at the moment and their twitter feed is inundated with enquiries when water will be back on.

Jerry White, business manager at Thames Water, told the BBC that there has been a "20% jump in the demand for water in the last five days".

(Image: Grant Melton/Mercury Press)

Thames Water said the number of properties affected by the shortage is 'falling all the time' and said the main postcodes affected are SW16, NW2, NW3, NW5, NW11, N2, N10, N19.

Steve Andrews, South East Water’s head of central operations: “At this stage we are not able to say when supplies will be back to normal as we are trying to locate what we believe to be a very large number of very small bursts right across our network.

"We are dealing with multiple leaks in cities, towns and villages so when we repair a pipe there are others still causing issues and water is not returning.”

He said it is not only underground where pipes are bursting but also in people’s homes and businesses.

He added: "We were prepared for the poor weather when it swept in and have also been planning for the thaw and the bursts we knew it would inevitably cause.

"While it is impossible to predict which pipes will burst and where, we have had crews on standby 24 hours a day and we have been sending them wherever they are needed."

Debbie Morrison told the BBC her house in Wandsworth had been without water since 8pm on Saturday "with no information on when the supplies will be reinstated".

She added: "You can't get through on the telephone and the only means of communications with Thames Water is via the website and Twitter.

"I am concerned for all the elderly people stuck without water or information - and disabled people."