South East Water: Major incident declared as thousands across Kent and Sussex without water

Water firm’s repair teams ‘working round the clock’published at 12:03 GMT

12:03 GMT

South East Water has issued a fresh statement about the ongoing water supply issues in Kent and Sussex, apologising and laying out its plan of action.

The firm said about 30,000 properties across the two counties were currently affected.

Incident manager Matthew Dean said: “We’re sorry to our customers who
are experiencing issues with their drinking water supply, including no water,
intermittent supply interruptions or low pressure.

“Following the
recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts across Kent
and Sussex, our drinking water storage tanks are running very low and there are
currently around 30,000 impacted properties across the two counties.

“This includes
16,500 properties in East Grinstead and the surrounding areas in Sussex, with
parts of Tunbridge Wells also affected, along with some localised issues in
other parts of Kent.

“Our water
treatment works continue to operate at full capacity and tankers are pumping
water directly into the storage tanks and network to increase the amount of
water available in the affected areas.

“Our leak repair
teams are working around the clock to fix the leaks and bursts across Kent and
Sussex, with extra resources available to help carry out repairs.

“Our customer care
team is delivering bottled water to the customers on our Priority Services
Register who are most in need and we have carried out 5,700 deliveries of
bottled water over the weekend.

“We are also
supporting hospitals with tankers and providing bottled water for care homes,
schools, medical care providers and to support livestock.”