How to prepare for an incident

Supply interruptions and flooding can happen for many reasons and without notice. Incidents can affect customers in different ways. We can support you to be prepared in the event of an incident.

Store bottled water in advance

Make sure you have stored enough bottled water for drinking, cooking, and for pets.

Lady dispensing water from a water butt into a water canister

Use a water butt

During an incident, you can use water from a water butt to flush your loo.

Young girl drinking water from a glass and smiling

Have alternatives available

Use paper plates, cups, and disposable cutlery to help conserve water for other needs. During an incident these will be ideal to use in order to save you needing to wash up.

Keep essentials in

Hand sanitisers, baby or biodegradable wet wipes, or soap without water can be used to wash your hands. Dry / no-wash shampoo could also be used to wash your hair until your supply returns.

Register for Priority Services

Our Priority Services Register (PSR) helps customers who need a little extra support. We'll prioritise delivering bottled water to PSR members during supply interruptions who are:

Unable to collect water themselves
Mobility impaired
Medically dependent on water
Blind
Aged over 90
Suffering a short-term illness or injury lasting more than two weeks

You can register online for priority services. Please note applications can take time to process. Registering during a supply interruption won’t mean support is provided immediately.

A Thames Water employee giving a resident some bottles of water

Prepare for emergencies

You can find out more on how to prepare for different types of emergencies on the government website.