Taps running dry have made summers a misery for Southside residents, a Bermuda Housing Corporation resident has charged.

The resident said last week’s outage - caused by a water main break - was their third already this year.

The Bermuda Land Development Corporation announced the outage on Thursday after the main line servicing Southside, an ageing galvanised pipe left over from the days of the US Base, cracked underground.

Southside, St David’s tenants were without water for about 24 hours before the leak was repaired, according to the BLDC.

The resident, who lives with her baby, said she and other tenants had been left “totally frustrated with the frequent water outages on this complex”.

“Without fail, every summer we have to endure frequent water outages,” she said, calling 24 hours – the longest yet – “unacceptable”.

“While we understand that accidents happen, there are frequent water line breaks here. We were told that this latest break would be fixed by 7 or 8pm, and it lasted all night.”

A massive upgrade to water and sewage systems is under way throughout the East End.

Andrew Dias, head of the BLDC, apologised last week and said the quango was dealing with an outdated system.

But the tenant asked why bottles of water could not be dropped off for hard-hit residents.

She added: “I really feel sorry for the people living in Gulfstream and the other barracks, where there are multiple families living together while trying to maintain a standard of hygiene with no water for almost 24 hours.”

Her comment was in reference to the emergency housing complex in St David’s.

Speaking after water returned shortly after 2pm on Friday, she said: “One thing I would like to stress is the health aspect, as I'm not the only mother with a tiny infant at home.

“Coupled with the pandemic, this is not a good time for people to be coming from the supermarket or any public place and not being able to wash up.”

She added: “We cannot go through another hot summer without knowing if we'll have running water for a cool drink or to bathe.”