THERE's either not enough rain or too much.

The unpredictable winter weather has caused a water crisis for 5,000 Hampshire residents.

Southern Water blamed high and low rainfall in the reservoirs serving Romsey, Timsbury and Stockbridge for disrupting supplies.

A prolonged spell of dry weather led to levels reservoirs falling then when heavy rain fell it churned up the shallow water causing it to become muddy.

But the utility company has failed to confirm when the problem will be resolved, leaving residents high and dry.

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

In the mean time water tankers have been rented by Southern Water to pump fresh water to around 560 properties.

But one resident of Abbotswood housing estate, near Romsey, says this isn't good enough and is angry after being kept in the dark for almost a week.

"It has been hard, especially with a young family," said mum Karen Long.

"We have no idea when we can take a shower as the water is so sporadic.

"Originally we were told it was a burst pipe and they were going to fix it as soon as possible, but then we found out that it was sediment in the water. Southern Water have not communicated well with us – I think it has been really mismanaged.

"I can understand that (the engineers) are working their hardest to get it done, but I cannot believe that on an estate of this size that something like this can happen."

Karen added that when running the taps, brown sediment would sometimes come through.

"We were told by Southern Water that this may happen and just to run the tap a bit longer to get rid of it," she said.

"But, if a child pours a glass and this happens, they may not question it; its potentially dangerous.

"We are on a brand new, modern estate with a brand new property, how can this happen?

"Water is essential and we pay a lot of money every month for it."

Nevertheless, some other residents say they have not suffered much inconvenience.

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

"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."

A statement from the utility company confirmed progress was being made: "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."