PARTS of Haslemere saw their mains water supply cut for the second time in a week as Thames Water came under fire from fed-up and thirsty customers.

Much of the town had no mains water for 16 hours from Monday night last week to Tuesday afternoon, due to a power failure at Thames Water’s Blackdown Reservoir.

As the temperature soared, residents queued for free bottles of water at distribution points opened by Thames Water at Haslemere Tesco and Grayswood Village Hall.

The problems appeared to have been resolved by Tuesday evening last week.

But properties in parts of Haslemere were hit again last Thursday, when the mains supplies were cut again, with problems persisting until Monday.

Denbigh Road resident Eric Anstee found himself with no mains water for a second time at 9.30pm last Thursday.

“Again tonight no water,” he told The Herald.

“It is a disgrace that Thames have provided no information to residents other than it is the booster pumps at the reservoir.

“They clearly have a major problem and are not owning up to the issues.”

Thames Water reopened its distribution point in Grayswood, last Friday, and opened a new emergency point at Haslemere Leisure Centre to hand out free bottles of water.

The Grayswood point stayed open until 6am on Saturday, and the leisure centre remained open until Tuesday this week.

A Thames Water spokesman said a week ago: “We’re sorry to customers who may still be experiencing no water or low pressure in GU27.

“Following the power failure at Blackdown reservoir, we’ve been working hard to stabilise the water pressure in the area but due to very high demand and the continued dry weather we’re experiencing some further issues particularly during at peak times.

“We’re working hard to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible but we do need our customers’ help. If they can reduce their water usage, this will help us recover our storage levels and ensure there’s enough water to go around.”

But Thames Water came under fire for not doing more itself to reduce water usage by fixing a leak in Wey Hill that has been running across a footpath for nearly a year. Hindhead, according to residents.

Green Party activist Susan Ryland called for the leak at a commercial property owned by Waverley Borough Council to be fixed as soon as possible.

But the leak appears to have caused a stand off between Waverley and the water firm.

A council spokesman said: “The leak was reported in May 2018. The council carried out an inspection and identified the leak was the responsibility of Thames Water, and passed it to them to be resolved.”

But Thames Water said in response: “This leak is on a water supply pipe within the boundary of a commercial building, and is therefore the property owner’s responsibility to resolve.

“We’ve attended to investigate numerous times and have explained the situation on each occasion.”