{
  "id": 10463696,
  "title": "Schools forced to shut amid burst Thames Water pipe ‘leaking 750 litres a second’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/schools-forced-to-shut-amid-burst-thames-water-pipe-leaking-750",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-28T12:53:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/28/schools-forced-to-shut-amid-burst-thames-water-pipe-leaking-750-litres-a-second"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A burst Thames Water pipe in south London and Surrey caused schools, businesses, and homes to be without water on Monday. The pipe leaked 750 litres of water per second, affecting about 6,000 properties across seven London boroughs and two Surrey boroughs. Schools and colleges were forced to close, with Esher College, Kingston Grammar School, and several infant and nursery schools among those affected. Monica Harding, MP for Esher and Walton, described the situation as unacceptable and demanded urgent action from Thames Water. Helen Ryder, a local business owner, expressed concern for both staff and flower customers. Thames Water apologized and stated that engineers were working to repair the burst, which was located in the Molesey area. Bottled water stations would be opened later, and the company assured customers that they were working to restore water supply as quickly as possible.",
  "summary": "Leak causes outages and low pressure in parts of London and Surrey, affecting 6,000 properties and leaving some without water Schools, businesses and homes across seven boroughs in England were hit by a Thames Water outage on Monday, from a burst water main reportedly leaking 750 litres a second. About 6,000 properties across five south London boroughs and two Surrey boroughs had no water supply…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}