The leaders of local authorities across Hampshire have written to Southern Water to demand action over the recent supply problems.

Approximately 13,000 homes were affected by either low water pressure or water outrages in this latest failure from Wednesday, February 15 to Sunday, February 19, with people in Winchester, Test Valley, Eastleigh and Southampton affected.

Now the leaders of Winchester City Council, Hampshire County Council, Test Valley Borough Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, New Forest District Council and Southampton City Council have written to Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water.

READ MORE: Southern Water: compensation for recent water failure to double

Cllr Martin Tod, leader of Winchester City Council, said: “Southern Water have been letting us down in so many ways recently – with sewage in our High Street and rivers – and failure to supply any water at all, twice in recent months in the south of our district.

“Their response when things go wrong has also been wholly inadequate. That’s what this letter sets out. There’s real fury across the south of Hampshire. They can’t go on like this.”

The letter said: “Hundreds of thousands of residents have experienced or been at risk of supply loss and this is in addition to the potential impacts on critical frontline services such as social care, health and education. 

“Your company has repeatedly failed to learn the lessons of previous responses and deliver an acceptable service to your customers in our communities. This is in no way a criticism of your individual staff members that worked hard for very long hours throughout these responses – it is a systemic failure.

SEE ALSO: Southern Water: How to get compensation if your supply was cut off

“Despite your company’s subsequent assurances that investment was taking place and your procedures being improved, we find ourselves now writing to you to highlight the anger and frustration of the thousands of residents that experienced disruption and inadequate support during further incidents in December 2022 and February 2023.

“We are currently in the recovery phase of the February 2023 incident and our initial impact assessments indicate serious damage to public confidence in Southern Water’s capability to maintain a reliable water supply and to provide emergency support when things do go wrong. 

“We are prepared to work with you to help rebuild that trust but require reassurance that you understand our concerns and are prepared to address your failures.”

Mr Gosden previously said: “To recognise the fact that this has been the second outage, we will be offering double the normal compensation, which takes the overall compensation to package to about £3m. So, we are hoping that will go someway to recognising the apology we have given to every one of our customers.”