Water has returned after a 24-hour outage which affected people and businesses across Oxford, Thames Water says.

Properties in the OX3, OX4 and OX44 postcodes had low pressure or no supply at all as three bottled water stations were opened in the area.

Thames Water said it had worked through the night and "everything should now be back to normal".

The water company said customers' water supply should now "be back to normal for customers" but warned water may look "cloudy" at first.

Two bottled water banks were initially set up nearby in the car parks of Oxford Thornhill Park & Ride and in the Waitrose car park in Headington on London Road.

A third bottled water bank at the Oxsrad Sports & Leisure Centre in Court Place Farm, Marsh Lane is due to open at 4pm.

The Headington water bank was forced closed for a number of hours with Thames Water announcing at around 12.30pm it would be closed until 2pm until it replenished its stock.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We can confirm everything should now be back to normal for customers, with water returning to homes and businesses.”

“We are very sorry for yesterday's water supply interruptions which followed planned upgrades to a water pipe. 

"When we replace a pipe, we need to ensure it’s flushed through and free of air before it's put back into supply.

"We've completed that work and have returned the pipe to service.

"Our team have worked through the night to increase water pressure after restoring supplies yesterday evening. 

"Some customers whose supply has returned may experience cloudy water.

"This is caused by tiny air bubbles which are harmless and will disappear.

"If the tap is run for a few minutes, the water should return to normal.”

“We understand it can be inconvenient when water goes off and would like to thanks customers for their patience while we worked to resolve the problem.”

It comes after Thames Water put forward new plans to boost spending and investment in its network, but warned this could see customer bills surge by 44 per cent.

The group, which is battling to survive amid a funding crisis, has proposed increasing spending by £1.1 billion and revealed another potential £1.9 billion investment in its network as part of new business plans to regulator Ofwat.

The utility giant – Britain’s biggest water firm, with 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley region – said its new business plan for the five years to 2030 would see spending rise to £19.8 billion, with the extra being used for environmental projects.

This increased spend would see bills rise largely in line with the previous plans for a 40 per cent rise over the five years.

But it added that the possible extra £1.9 billion investment would see average customer bills increase by another £19 over the five years – or around 44 per cent.

If Ofwat was to give the full plans the go-ahead, this would see customer bills rise to £627 a year by 2030.