Phil Harrison,Tunbridge Wellsand
Bob Dale,South East
EDDIE MITCHELL
Tens of thousands of homes are relying on bottled water
Tens of thousands of people in Sussex and Kent are starting the working week without water following a weekend of disruption, with the council in Kent declaring a major incident.
South East Water (SEW) said a number of issues were to blame, including Storm Goretti and a power cut at its pumping plant.
It said 14 postcodes were still affected around the East Grinstead, Frant and Tunbridge Wells areas.
Collection points for bottled water have been set up and some customers have been told their supply may not return until Tuesday.
Eddie Mitchell
A water collection point has been set up at East Grinstead Rugby Club
SEW water said bottled water stations will be open from 09:00 GMT at:
- Kings Centre – Moat Rd, East Grinstead RH19 3LN
- East Grinstead Sports Club – Saint Hill Rd, East Grinstead RH19 4JU
- East Court, College Lane, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 3LT
- Headcorn Aerodrome, TN27 9HX
- Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club, Frant Road, TN2 5LS
Eileen, who lives in Tunbridge Wells told BBC Radio Kent that she had been having issues since Tuesday.
“I’m finding it a nightmare, and I live alone. I don’t know how people with families get on. It’s so unhygienic.
“I’m getting bottled water delivered, but I’m sick of the sight of these bottles.
“I just want water in the tap. Is that too much to ask?”
Krys O’Brien, who lives in East Grinstead, told BBC Radio Sussex: “It’s been grim, it’s been unsanitary and unhygenic. It’s been a miserable weekend.
“We’ve had no water since very early Saturday morning. We’ve had very intermittent messages from South East Water on the web site. It’s been horrible and we don’t know when it’s going to come back properly.”
Heather Pratt in Forest Row said her water returned on Monday morning after being cut off on Saturday.
“It has been pretty grim and to use Storm Guretti as an excuse I find very flimsy” she said.
EDDIE MITCHELL
Vulnerable customers are having bottled water delivered
On X, Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran said: “A major incident has now been declared on the basis that more households and settings have been impacted in the last 24 hours and because we are putting additional arrangements in place to prepare for further potential disruption.”
Several schools in Kent and Sussex are closed for the day because of the lack of water, along with the public libraries in East Grinstead.
The Queen Victoria Hospital in the town said some appointments may have to be carried out virtually.
Officials said water tankers were delivering supplies, and extra measures were being taken to ensure essential services continued.
Members of hospital staff who are able to work from home are being urged to speak to their line manager.
EDDIE MITCHELL
Long queues formed at the bottled water stations over the weekend
Matthew Turner from the Weald of Kent Golf Course and Hotel says the water outages have badly affected his business.
“The water is dribbling through the taps now but on Saturday it stopped completely. We have reserve tanks so could our catering could remain open for a short time but when it ran out we had to shut meaning the Sunday carvery went to waste.”
“We also had twelve guests in the hotel so had portable toilets delivered for their convenience.”
PHIL HARRISON/BBC
Matthew Turner’s hotel has had to bring in portable toilets
PHIL HARRISON/BBC
Caroline Stone was first in the queue at Headcorn’s bottled water station on Monday
Caroline Stone from Sutton Valence was the first at the Headcorn Aerodrome water station in Kent this morning.
“It’s coming back in dribs and drabs now but we didn’t have any water since late Friday evening” she said.
“It’s been fun handwashing school uniform and lots of pyjama days, fortunately my children are back at school today. South-East Water need to sort it out.”
Speaking to the BBC, Mike Martin, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, said: “We’re in a bizarre situation where we’ve privatised water and they are accountable to no-one.
“I think the chair of South East Water needs to convene the board and get a grip of what’s going on.”
In a statement on Monday morning the company said: “We are sorry that customers in East Grinstead and the surrounding areas have had no water or intermittent supply over the weekend.
“We’re are working hard to restore supplies but regrettably, this situation has not improved as much as we would have liked and we anticipate that the reservoir is unlikely to return to a level where your supplies will return until tomorrow (Tuesday 13th).”