Warning of things to come.

I agree about the thin veneer. We went without electricity for a week last year because of storms. No lights, no hot water, no heating. There were hundreds of houses involved. We get our water cut off from time to time but they do usually warn us and it is usually just for a few hours whilst they flush the system. Some houses in the bush don’t have water at all, they have to use tank water. We had a holiday house like that and you have to be careful drinking it. Maybe that will happen more and more ?

annsixty - water at the plant is pumped by electricity
Luckily, the weather is still mild.
Power cuts will mean no street lights, traffic lights, shops,
library, swimming baths, hairdressers, butchers and store freezers, pubs, cafes, - restaurants cooking on gas will possibly remain open, all these scenarios are hard to imagine, before we even consider domestic
mayhem.

Water pumping stations have emergency generators, the same as hospitals, so water should not normally be cut off if there’s a power cut.

We lost water a few years ago, on a Sunday, due to a power failure, but it was reconnected within the day, checks were made to ensure every one was connected and there was a plentiful supply of bottled water.
We lost gas also, for the only time in my life, and the response was immediate, with every single house checked and supplies of electrical heaters and cooking facilities provided and a local 'nerve centre' set up.
Don't be so pessimistic.

That is what I thought Casdon
I have never known water go off unless we have been told beforehand as for repairs or maintenance work when we were given the chance to fill up containers etc.

Perhaps the emergency generator didn’t kick in as it should have done annsixty, or maybe there were some other technical difficulties with the treatment systems?

I double checked, and water treatment plants are also included in the priority services which will have power protected in the event of planned power cuts this winter, so there should be a problem with water supply generally.

At my daughter's house in Italy the water is turned off for three hours every afternoon, a permanent feature. She has just installed a huge water tank, which is what everyone else seems to do!

Casdon

Perhaps the emergency generator didn’t kick in as it should have done annsixty, or maybe there were some other technical difficulties with the treatment systems?

I double checked, and water treatment plants are also included in the priority services which will have power protected in the event of planned power cuts this winter, so there should be a problem with water supply generally.

Not be a problem!

I have already prepped for that as water supply relies heavily on power, computers and infrastructure. I had emptied my two large water butts (350 litres each) but I reconnected just before the rains and allowed them both to fill

I bought camping water purifier tabs, which use chlorine to kill bugs. I will draw off whet I need. Add the tab(s) Let the water sit for 30 minutes. Then filter to remove the excess chlorine.

Water treatment is quite a sophisticated and complex operation, anything can go wrong, including over or under use of chemicals if computer systems develop a fault

We lived without water for a week when we lived in Spain. It was very hard. Also without electricity at times.

Ironically, it was one of the reasons we left, having to do without basic utilities.

We were living on our first boat in 1986. That was a bad winter.
The photo shows how bad it was.
We were without water for month. Fortunately we were both working so we’re able to fill up large water bottles at work.

When we lived in the tropics is wasn’t unusual for the water to go off. You simply learned to live with it and filled buckets from the pool for toilet flushing.
I can’t imagine having no electricity with broadband routers, T.V. and cooking facilities being out of action.