Schools shut and thousands of people without water after large water main burst
Schools have shut and thousands of people have been left without water after a large water main burst, Thames Water said.
Last updated 28th Sep 2026
In an update on its website on Monday morning, the company said its specialist team was “on site and working to stop the water flooding from the broken pipe” in West Molesey, Surrey.
It said the issue would take “some time” to fix because of the location of the fault.
Thames Water said up to 15,000 properties were initially affected by the issue, later adding the number had fallen to 6,000.
Customers in the following postcodes were impacted: CR4, KT1, KT10, KT12, KT2, KT3, KT5, KT6, KT7, KT8, SM4, SW16, SW17, SW18, SW19, SW20, TW10 and TW16.
Meanwhile, some schools and nurseries said they had been forced to shut because of the fault.
Esher Sixth Form College, in Thames Ditton, Surrey, said on its website: “Due to a major water outage affecting the KT10 area and our campus, the College is now closed on Monday September 28.
“Students and staff must return home, or stay at home until further communications via Teams.”
The Holy Cross School in New Malden, south London, said: “Due to a local water supply issue affecting the school site this morning, we have taken the decision to close the school today.”
Thames Ditton Infant School and Long Ditton Infant and Nursery School, Surrey, also said they were shut for the day because of the issue.
Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, Surrey, told the Press Association: “We need an urgent response from Thames Water to get water supplies back on as soon as possible and to protect vulnerable communities."
“Once the water is flowing again, we need to establish exactly what happened and why."
“My worry is that decades of underinvestment in our infrastructure and poor regulation may be causing incidences like this."
“Right now, however, the priority must be getting water back in our taps.”
The MP said on X that she was “pushing for an urgent response” as her constituency was affected by the issue.
Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon, south London, said he had reached out to Thames Water after reports of a water outage across Wimbledon, New Malden, Raynes Park and Morden, in south London.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the difficulties faced by households were “yet another example” of the water firm failing its customers.
“Thames Water is already the worst water company in England and Wales for leaky pipes – losing an average of 592 million litres every single day,” he said.
“Meanwhile, 28% of customers’ bills goes straight to servicing the company’s debt, not fixing the crumbling infrastructure that is now failing them."
“The final whistle needs to be blown on Thames Water, and (Prime Minister Andy) Burnham needs to get a grip.”
Some people posted on X saying they had woken up to no water on Monday morning.
“We have no running water,” one user said, before adding: “I just want a shower and a cup of tea. Thames Water want their bonuses.”
Replying to Ms Harding’s post, another user said the outage was “having a huge impact already”.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Our engineers are making progress on repairing the burst in Molesey but it is likely to take some time to complete."
“We are rerouting water in the area to reduce the impact on customers while we work to fix the burst."
“Customers in Surbiton should be seeing their supply return although the pressure may be lower than usual."
“Water deliveries are being made to customers who are on our priority services register."
“We will be opening bottled water stations this afternoon and will provide their locations once confirmed."
“We believe up to 15,000 properties were affected this morning and that has now been reduced to 6,000."
“We again would like to say sorry to our customers and reassure those who are still affected that we are working to restore their water supply as quickly as possible.”
The spokesperson said further updates would be posted on the company’s website.