We recently experienced a burst on one of the supply mains to a key reservoir supporting customers in the Purton/ Royal Wooton Bassett area. Whilst engineers worked tirelessly to respond to the burst and make the necessary repairs, other teams were working behind the scenes to ensure that our customers who need extra help were prioritised.

When we are unable to maintain a piped supply to all our customers, we set up bottled water stations, where individuals can collect water. But for some customers such as those with physical impairments this isn’t an accessible option. For those customers, this is where being on our Priority Services Register (PSR) pays dividends. When a customer signs up to our PSR it ensures that we understand and consider any extra help they need when providing our services, including when an incident occurs. If a customer is not registered on our PSR they may struggle to get the water they need or experience delays which could impact their physical and mental wellbeing. 

For this incident, our team identified the properties impacted registered on the PSR, assessed their needs, and organised the delivery of bottled water. First, we prioritised those who are on dialysis or medically dependent on water. Secondly, we provided water for customers living with a chronic / serious illness, mobility impaired, living with dementia, blind, aged over 90, and/ or were recovering from hospital treatment. Lastly, we focused on providing water to PSR customers who are partially sighted, have children under the age of five or are between 80-90 years old.

Whilst we advise customers to consider their resilience to a water supply disruption and signpost them to the government prepare website (https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/) which provides lots of useful advice to improve household resilience to a range of scenarios and encourage customers to register on our PSR, we knew that there are those whose needs are not known to us, so we worked with colleagues in the Emergency Planning team at Wiltshire Council to identify any additional residents in vulnerable circumstances and made deliveries to them.

We are keen to help more customers. Therefore, we want to raise awareness of the support available and increase the number of customers registered on our PSR. Customers can register online. It is easy and quick only takes a couple of minutes. Carers, friends, or family can register on behalf of someone they think could benefit from extra support. For more information about our extra help and to join our PSR visit thameswater.co.uk/help/get-extra-help/priority-services.

Please help us spread the message of our free PSR so we can help as many people as possible. 

To help us proactively provide customers in vulnerable circumstances with the extra help they need we are aiming to increase the number of customers registered on our Priority Services Register from the current 673,000 to 1.2 million households by 2030. 

This will be achieved through partnerships to engage underrepresented communities, targeted awareness campaigns and increased data sharing. We currently have a data sharing agreement in place with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, using a Substantial Public Interest approach endorsed by the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) The data we’ve provided has been used to carry out nearly 1000 home fire safety visits. These visits help to keep residents in vulnerable circumstances safer in their homes and reduce the risk of fire. If you’re interested in working together to support residents in your area, please get in touch.