A UTILITY company has blamed high and low rainfall for water problems experienced by thousands of Hampshire residents.

Southern Water has confirmed the water levels in the reservoirs serving Romsey, Timsbury and Stockbridge had dropped too low and caused sediment to enter the water supply.

Thousands of residents have experienced low water pressure and intermittent loss of supply.

A Southern Water spokeswoman said: "Low reservoir levels are as a result of low rainfall over winter.

"This, coupled with high rainfall, led to turbidity (the particles being churned up by the rain) which meant we needed to build in an additional level of treatment, while also adding more water into the reservoir via tankers."

To counter the issue, water tankers have been rented by Southern Water to pump fresh water into resident’s homes 24/7 – in an attempt to minimise the loss of supply.

However, no resolution date has been earmarked.

A statement from Southern Water said: "Our emergency works are still ongoing in the Abbotswood area of Romsey, however we now have much more stable pressure in the network which means customers are unlikely to experience low pressure or intermittent loss of supply.

"We appreciate the continuing presence of tankers can be a cause of concern for our customers and we would like to reassure them our team have been working day and night to resolve this issue as quickly as possible while still providing a supply of clean fully treated water.

"While we do not have a time frame for when this will be resolved, please rest assured we're working hard to get this issue fixed as quickly as possible.

"We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank customers for their patience."

One local, Michelle Walker, said: "It has only been going on for a few days and it hasn’t been that bad.

"The main issue I have had is the impact on showering, but apart from that it has not affected me all that much.

"Southern Water have done their best to help us and I thank them for that."