Thousands of neighbours have received compensation after losing water in two major outages in the Reading area.
Thames Water has paid more than 6,700 households and commercial properties compensation after two major water loss incidents in 2024.
Households were left for days without water due to a supply interruption at the Pangbourne Water Treatment Works in January last year.
The outage prompted Thames Water to hand out emergency bottles of water to residents.
Another incident in November last year involved burst water mains in Reades Lane, Sonning Common, which led to neighbours experiencing low pressure.
These details are revealed in a letter written by Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading Central to Esther Sharples, the chief operating officer of Thames Water.
Mr Rodda wrote: “I would like to thank Thames Water for reviewing the two incidents, and for acknowledging the impact that these had on residents.
“I am pleased that the company has agreed to pay compensation to 6,778 households and commercial properties in the Reading area and that these customers will now receive £30 for the loss of water and a further £30 for each additional 12 hour period without water.
“This is defined as where water pressure measured by the company was less than one bar of pressure.”
Mr Rodda is now pushing for compensation to be increased to £50, and for £50 for people who went days and nights without water.
He wrote: “I believe Thames Water should now go further and increase the minimum compensation to £50 for the incidents and £50 for each additional 12-hour period without water.
“This would bring compensation in line with the current rules on compensation, introduced by the water regulator, Ofwat, in the new Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS) standards and payment amounts which came into force on July 2.
“In addition, to maintain public confidence in the compensation payments scheme I would ask Thames Water to publish the total value of compensation paid and the number of households and businesses which have received compensation for the two incidents.
“It would also be helpful to know how many households received the initial payment and how many received additional payments for both initial interruption to water supplies and payments for 12 hours and 24 hours without water.
“I understand the majority of those affected are constituents in Reading Central, it would help if the company could give details of the breakdown of the affected properties by parliamentary constituency, so that neighbouring MPs could be made of any impact on their constituents.”
A statement will be sought by Thames Water on the issue.
Pangbourne is situated in the Reading West and Mid Berkshire constituency, and Sonning Common is in the Henley and Thame constituency.
