Apology over brown tap water smelling of petrol

Westminster City Council (WCC) has apologised to Pimlico residents over its handling of an incident which saw their tap water turn brown and start smelling like petrol.

Tenants living in Morgan House on the Lillington and Longmoor Gardens Estate were left with the brown, smelly water in April 2025.

Since then, many residents say they are still too scared to use the water because they felt that the council did not carry out sufficient testing of their building's various water supplies.

At a meeting on 7 July, council officers promised to write a formal letter of apology to all residents and agreed to test all relevant water supplies to ensure the water was safe to drink.

In June 2025, Morgan House residents told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they had been experiencing foul water for at least two months and had noticed their skin become irritated and itchy.

Speaking following the 7 July meeting, Ernest Stafford, who lives on the estate, said: "No resident should ever smell a petrol‑type substance in their tap water. Industry guidance says any hydrocarbon odour should trigger an immediate investigation.

"Instead, residents spent a year doing the work themselves - we had to become Erin Brockovich while being blocked and brushed aside.

"The housing function wasn't equipped to deal with such an incident: the councillor responsible lacked the experience, officers didn't follow guidance or established due diligence, and Stuart Love, the [Westminster City Council] CEO, didn't intervene."

The council repeatedly told residents that it believed the issue was with the Thames Water supply. However, the water firm said its tests of the incoming water showed no issues.

Residents also said the water coming from their hot water taps was affected during the incident.

WCC said statutory pH tests on the hot water supply in the plant room came back as normal. However, standard pH testing would not show the presence of hydrocarbons (or fuel) in the water.

In June and July 2025, the council tested all three water supplies for hydrocarbons which came back as normal.

It told residents it believed the discolouration had been caused by disrupted iron sediment in the tank.

As well as comprehensive testing of the building's water supplies to reassure residents, WCC agreed to carry out an investigation into what caused the water's stench and discolouration.

Council officers will also carry out recommendations by the Housing Ombudsman, which found "service failure" in its handling of the brown water incident.

The council did not provide the LDRS with a comment on the outcome of the meeting.

In April, it told the LDRS Thames Water was responsible for supplying the building.

A Housing Ombudsman report found that the landlord did not log the brown water incident in line with its housing emergency protocol.

It also found that it was delayed in reporting the event to the water company.

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