Thames Water Reading: Customers outraged after having no water for third day running - areas affected

Thames Water customers are outraged after having low or no water supply for the third day running. The water company thanked customers for their “continued patience” but one customer slammed the response saying customers “aren’t patient” - instead they “have no choice”. 

Dr Kim Reynolds, a Thames Water customer, wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter: “Thames Water thanks the people of Reading for their ‘continued patience’ for the lack of water. We aren’t patient, we have no choice. Unlike @thameswater who could choose not to pay themselves dividends until they have upgraded their infrastructure.”

Customers in the Reading, Pangbourne and Tilehurst areas continue to experience no water or low pressure today (Tuesday 23 January). The problem has been ongoing since Saturday (20 January) when a technical issue at Pangbourne Water Treatment reduced the amount of water that the water company had stored in its reservoirs.  

Thames Water said the issue was resolved on Saturday but it has “struggled to rebuild water pressure due to over 10 burst mains caused by the recent cold weather.” It added: “We have over 50 engineers in the area fixing leaks and removing airlocks from our network. All our customers should now have some water supply, but it may be at a lower pressure than normal.”

Sara Radenovic posted on X that her home hasn’t had “water supply at all for more than 12 hours” in the Aldbury/Tring area and there has been “no information from Thames Water.” Another user posted on the platform: “@thameswater we still have no water RG9, since Saturday - when will you respond to logged case numbers?”.

Thames Water said: “We’re very sorry if you’re still experiencing no water or low pressure. 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.” 

It added that customers with no water should contact the water company on 0800 316 9800 and bottled water stations at Tesco Extra on Napier Road, Reading, RG1 8DF,  have opened from 9am to 9pm today. The firm said it will continue to deliver bottled water to customers on its Priority Service Register.