About 18,000 properties hit with water supply issues
Simon Jones/BBCAbout 18,000 properties in Kent are still impacted by water supply disruptions due to the warm weather spell, South East Water (SEW) has said.
Areas impacted include the towns of Maidstone, Ashford and Whitstable, as well as several villages in the county.
The water firm has apologised and urged customers to only use water for essential purposes like drinking, washing and cooking.
Battle in East Sussex had also previously been impacted by the water supply issues.
Matthew Dean, SEW head of operations control, said the outages were due to "extremely high demand during the very hot weather".
He urged households to put aside some water for essential use while they had a supply.
The water company also said that storage reservoirs had reached critical levels in Whitstable and Herne Bay.
"We are doing everything we can," Dean added.
"But some customers will continue to have intermittent water supply until reservoir levels have been restored."
The company said it had pumped 660 million litres of water to customers across the region - more than 100 million litres more than the average for a day, he continued.
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) spokesperson said that officials were "in close contact with the company and expect it to restore supplies as quickly as possible".
Impacted areas
Areas that are experiencing supply issues in Kent as of 21:00 BST on Wednesday include:
- Whitstable
- Pilgrims Way, Kemsing and Sevenoaks
- Campion Crescent, Cranbrook
- Tankerton
- Ashford and surrounding areas
- Ulcombe Hill, Ulcombe, Maidstone
- Amage Road, Wye, Ashford
- Herne Bay
- Radfall
- Coxheath, Maidstone
- Charing, Challock, Molash and surrounding areas
On Wednesday, the following areas in Sussex faced disruption, though they were not listed as ongoing interruptions on the SEW network as of 21:00.
- Hastings Road, Battle, East Sussex
- Paddockhurst Road, Turners Hill, West Sussex
- Willow Way, Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex
Dean added that bottled water collection stations had been set up and the company was delivering supplies to vulnerable customers.
This comes as nearly 800 properties across three villages in Kent experienced several days of water supply disruptions from Saturday until Tuesday.
It explained that due to the nature of water supply networks, customers on higher ground or at the far end of the network might still have low pressure or supply interruptions, especially at peak use times.
The departures of SEW's chair and chief executive were confirmed earlier in May following multiple severe supply failures.
Regulator Ofwat recently proposed fining SEW £22m over issues affecting 286,000 people in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023.
Between November and Decembe, some 24,000 SEW customers had no water supply or low pressure following a plant failure, which led to a boil water notice for several days.
Weeks later, up to 30,000 households faced days of water chaos - which SEW blamed on cold weather and Storm Goretti.
Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Kent on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.
