SOUTHERN Water bosses have been summoned to appear before Parliament this afternoon to explain the cause of a water supply failure that affected 15,000 households across Southampton and Winchester last week.
MPs Paul Holmes, Suella Braverman, Flick Drummond, Caroline Nokes, Royston Smith, Alan Whitehead and Steve Brine are set to grill Southern Water CEO Lawrence Gosden on the issue, which left thousands with little to no running water for up to 72 hours.
Most customers were forced to attend three bottled water stations, while vulnerable customers had water delivered to them.
READ MORE: 'It's a big problem': Residents suffer 'endless' water firm lorries
Southern Water said the problem was down to a "filter failure" at its Otterbourne works during routine maintenance.
The firm has been widely criticised by councillors and MPs for its recent poor performance.
The latest supply failure comes after thousands of residents were left without water just days before Christmas.
In a letter to Rebecca Pow MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on Saturday, Mr Gosden said: "I recognise this is a significant inconvenience to our customers so close to the event before Christmas."
He said employees were working 'around the clock' to return water supply to customers.
One customer, living in the SO16 area, has suffered 7 or 8 water outages in the last year and questioned whether there was a larger infrastructure problem behind the regular supply problems.
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