1200 hrs

Following the incident at our pumping station in Much Hadham yesterday, we’re pleased to inform you that we have now built up enough capacity in our network to ensure all customers have a water supply at normal pressure.

Our engineers and network teams worked around the clock to keep the network topped up with water whilst these complicated repairs were carried out and keep the area in supply.

We would also like to thank customers who helped by conserving water. This made a real difference and ensured the vast majority of people in the affected area continued to receive water for essential use throughout the incident.

Many thanks for your patience and working with us during this challenging time.

This message was updated at 11:45 and will be removed at 20:00

1800 hrs

From Robert Halfon MP

I have made contact with Ministers about the ongoing issues with Affinity water and the supplies in the town and villages and have received the following update:You may by now be aware that this morning Affinity Water experienced a large pipe burst in one of their pumping stations that has led to the site being shut down. Physical mechanical repair work is now underway and Affinity are working to resolve the problem, but at the time of writing to you, some 9,000 properties, equating to approx. 25,000 people, in the Epping area will shortly be without water, and at its worst, this could affect some 50,000 properties, or 150,000 people as further impacts are felt beyond the immediate impacted zone and into the Harlow area.

The Local Authority is engaged and the Tactical Coordinating Group is meeting regularly. Vulnerable people in these communities have been contacted, and the Government and local authorities are working with Affinity Water to manage the incident, ensuring bottled water and tanker supplies can be distributed to affected customers, including those shielding or unable to leave their homes due to Covid-19.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow has been supplied with a tanker to ensure consistent supply of water.I appreciate this is challenging and a significant inconvenience to all people affected by this outage. Please be assured my officials are working closely with Affinity to provide whatever government support is needed to repair the burst pipe and restore supply. At the moment, we cannot provide a timescale for this, but I will keep you updated as the repair progresses. Affinity Water is regularly updating the alert page on work to resolve the issue which includes advice for customers to conserve water:

1700 hrs

The repair to the burst water main at the pumping station is now complete and we have power bank heaters running at full capacity to dry out our site. 

A new control panel for the pumping station will arrive shortly and this will be installed as soon as possible to get the site up and running again. 

Whilst our site team have been busy getting the pumping station back up and running, our network team have been working hard to adjust our network to keep the area supplied with water. 

However, there is a potential for some customers to experience low pressures or no water during peak demand times this evening from 6pm.

You can help keep supplies running for everyone during this time by using water for the essentials only by not running washing machines, dishwashers or other electrical appliances that use water until the issue is resolved. 

We would also advise customers to put enough drinking water in their fridge and kettle in case their water supply is affected later this evening. 

This message was updated at 16:45 and will be updated after 18:45

Update: From Essex Fire and Rescue Service

If you’re impacted by the ongoing water issues in Harlow and surrounding areas, rest assured we have water supplies and we’ll still respond as normal to emergencies if you need us.

Update at 1500 hrs

What we’re doing

Our engineers have been working on-site through the night and have now repaired the initial fault but we still expect disruption to your water supply from 3pm. For further information including affected postcodes please click here

We’re really sorry about this, we’re working to get your water back to normal as soon as possible.

We’ve updated this message at 14:20 and will update this message after 15:20

Update: 1245 hrs

What we’re doing

The repairs to the water main at the pumping station are progressing well, but there is still much to do to get the site fully operational.

From 1pm this afternoon, we expect your water supply will be affected so we would advise putting some water in your kettle or fridge for drinking, whilst these repairs are carried out.

During this time, we will be providing bottled water for customers on our priority services register and ensure local hospitals continued to be supplied with water using tankers.

We’re very sorry about this and rest assured we have multiple teams working around the clock to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

We updated this message at 12:45 and we’ll update it again after 02:45

Message from Affinity Water

No water in parts of Essex and Hertfordshire

A burst at our local pumping station has caused an electrical fault which has stopped the pumps from feeding your area.

We anticipate customers may notice a loss of water supply from 10:00.

A list of streets affected is below

https://www.affinitywater.co.uk/docs/HERTS%20AND%20ESSEX%2027.01.pdf

HARLOW Council is in contact with Affinity Water.