SOUTHERN Water has opened another bottled water station for customers hit by a supply failure.

Bottles were first made available this morning at the Ageas Bowl near Hedge End.

Later one opened at Place Leisure at Fleming Park in Eastleigh and then another in Violet Road in Southampton. They will be open until 10pm.

Thousands of people in parts of Winchester and Southampton have been left with either low water pressure or no water at all for about 12 hours.

Postcodes affected by the problem are SO15, SO16, SO18, SO19, SO21, SO22, SO30, SO31, SO32, SO50, SO51 and SO53.

Southern Water has blamed a "failure" at its Otterbourne water supply works.

Among the areas affected are Hilitingbury, Chandler's Ford, Badger Farm, Shawford, Twyford, Fair Oak, Bassett, Woolston and Hamble.

In a statement, the company said engineers had worked through the night to try to resolve the issue but warned that supplies were unlikely to be restored for another two days.

READ MORE: Southern Water customers hit out after taps run dry for second time in two months

Southern Water announced that a bottled water station would be open at the Ageas Bowl from 8am today.

It added: "Please use the North Entrance from Botley Way, SO30 3RS. We’ll be opening more sites this morning, and we’ll confirm locations as soon as we can.

 "If you require access to bottled water as a priority, you can sign up to our Priority Services Register and we’ll add you to the list of emergency deliveries.

"Please call us on call 0800 027 0800 during business hours and out of hours, use 0330 303 0368."

READ MORE: Pensioner condemns Southern Water after sewage flooding

Southern Water this afternoon revealed more on the cause of the water supply failure.

A spokesperson said: "During planned maintenance at our Otterbourne water supply works, our systems detected that untreated water was not being filtered correctly.

"Our systems are designed to automatically shut down to avoid any risk to our water supplies should this situation arise.

"Work has been under way since yesterday evening to safely contain, drain, clean, disinfect and refill the part of the system affected.

"Once the system is refilled, we will undertake extensive water quality testing before putting water back into supply.

"We would never take risks on the quality of the water that we provide and it’s important that we carry out this process in the correct way. This is why it's taking time."

In an earlier update issued at 6.30am the company said: "We're really sorry that our customers in South Winchester and Southampton are waking up to low pressure and a loss of water supply.

"Our teams worked through the night to resolve the issue, however it could take us 48 hours to return services.

"Bottled water stations will be open this morning and we’ll be updating the website shortly with locations.

"If you have any concerns, call us on 0330 303 0368."

Marwell Zoo has announced they're experiencing issues with their water supply due to ongoing problems from Southern Water.

The zoo has switched off further ticket sales for today in order to protect its limited supply for booked guests. Pre-booked tickets have also been extended until March 31.

Marwell has apologised for any disruption caused.   

Steve Brine, MP for Winchester and Chandler's Ford, added: "Southern Water have been keeping me updated.

"I have made it crystal clear that I and my constituents are hugely unimpressed with this - again - so soon after the pre-Christmas issues we faced."

Additional reporting: Jack Boyce

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