ON TUESDAY May 4, many of us in Southampton woke up to discover that we had no water.

In a situation when there is an emergency interruption to the water supply, the supplier, in this case Southern Water, must take reasonable steps as soon as possible to let households know when it plans to restore the supply, a telephone number to get more information and where you can get an alternative water supply.

When the interruption to the water supply lasts longer than 12 hours, the water company should provide an alternative supply - for example, bottled water or tankers in the street. Compensation of £30 per household per day is also a possibility.

For many of us the supply was restored by the end of the day, and for some by the next day. However, it is appropriate to ask if Southern Water could and should have done more to update householders in Southampton of when the supply would be restored and what alternative supplies were or would be made available.

Southern Water did provide a telephone number for those who were in most need but some households on their priority list have reported they did not receive any supplies as promised.

I understand from the City Council that they offered to make available sites throughout the site to act as mobile distribution centres but Southern Water did not take up this offer on the Tuesday. Provision was made available in the west of the City on the Wednesday but nothing for the east of the City.

I do believe that Southern Water could and should have done more to make supplies available throughout Southampton on the Tuesday. In their most recent published financial statements, for the year to March 31, 2020; Southern Water made a pre-tax profit of £434million. Therefore, it would not have been an excessive burden for the company to ensure all priority customers had water and that mobile distribution site were available because this would have help reassure residents worried that that the interruption might continue for more than 24 hours.

Southern Water has a monopoly of water supply in the Hampshire area and so as customers, we have no choice but to buy from this operator. A private consortium known as Greensands Holdings Limited owns Southern Water and this includes JP Morgan Asset Management, UBS Asset Management, Hermes Investment Management and Whitehelm Capital. Cheung Kong Infrastructure and The Li Ka Shing Foundation are direct investors. It is also revealing that Southern Water has total assets of £7.1billion and total liabilities of £5.9bn, which shows that the company has significant levels of debt that result in very high interest payments. You have to question whether the priorities of Southern Water are too focussed on its privately owned shareholders and creditors and not enough on is customers.

Southern Water given your monopoly position and considerable profitability, I believe you should and could have done more for the residents of Southampton.

Eamonn Keogh

Southampton resident and city councillor