South East Water warns some Kent customers will lose supply as heat pushes demand to record levels
The water supplier has blamed the ongoing outages on increased demand for water due to the hot weather
Water supplies are running critically low in parts of Kent after soaring demand during the hot weather, with South East Water warning some customers will lose their water supply on Wednesday.
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Parts of Herne Bay and Whitstable could lose supply, and others on higher ground may face low pressure or intermittent service, the water supplier said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The company said it pumped 660 million litres of water to customers across its region on Tuesday — more than 100 million litres above the daily average — leaving stored water reservoirs running very low in some areas.
Herne Bay and Whitstable are among the worst affected, with the storage reservoirs serving those towns said to have reached a "critical level".
Matthew Dean, South East Water’s head of operations control, said the company was doing “everything we can” to get more water into its reservoirs, but warned some households would still be hit by outages.
Read more: Britain’s deadly heatwave: Seven youngsters drown as May temperatures hit record levels
Customers still with a supply have been urged to store some water for essential use.
Bottled water collection points have already been set up, South East Water said, with customer care teams continuing to deliver bottled water to vulnerable customers.
The supplier has apologised for the disruption and urged households with running water to use it only for essential purposes such as "drinking, washing and cooking".
South East Water blamed the ongoing outages, which have affected households in Kent and Sussex since Saturday, on increased demand for water amid the hot weather.
On Tuesday, Mr Dean said: “Due to the nature of water supply networks, some customers on higher ground or at the far end of the network may have low pressure or supply interruptions, especially at peak use times.
“As these outages are a result of increased demand following the hot weather, supplies will continue to be intermittent for some customers until temperatures decrease and demand reduces. This includes customers in the Charing, Challock and Molash areas."
He added that repair workers had fixed a burst water pipe in the Decoy Drive area of Eastbourne which would see water return to around 168 households.
“In addition we have had some leaks and bursts, which while frustrating, is normal for a network of more than 9,000 miles in length and under high pressure at all times. We are deploying even more teams to be out and about looking for and fixing leaks," Mr Dean continued.
About 800 homes mainly in Charing, Challock and Molash in Kent were impacted by outages on Sunday, and bout 250 homes remained affected by outages on Monday.
It comes as the UK recorded the hottest May day on record over the bank holiday weekend, with temperatures in London passing 34C on Monday.
South East water has faced criticism and was accused by MPs of "incompetence" earlier this month over outages affecting tens and thousands of people.
Its Chairman Chris Train, was forced to resign earlier this month after MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published a scathing report saying they have “no confidence” in South East Water’s chief executive and board.
The company also faces a £22m fine by Ofwat, the water regulator, applying to issues during 2020 and 2023 in Kent and Sussex which affected more than 286,000 people.
Last December up to 16,000 homes went without water for almost a week, while in January about 30,000 properties faced issues.
South East Water’s incident manager, Steve Benton, said: “We are sorry to our customers in parts of Kent who have experienced low pressure or no water intermittently this weekend.
“Around 250 properties in the Charing, Challock and Molash areas have been impacted by water supply issues, including low pressure or no water. This follows a technical failure at our pumping station near Charing, which means we have struggled to push water to properties on higher ground.”
He said there was a bottled-water station open at Challock village hall, and deliveries were being made to some customers unable to visit.
“We’re sorry to all impacted customers for the disruption cause,” he said.
South East Water’s Head of Operations Control, Matthew Dean, said: “Around 18,000 customers across Kent are still experiencing water supply issues due to extremely high demand during the very hot weather.
“Yesterday (Tuesday 26 May) we pumped 660 million litres of water to customers across our region, which is more than 100 million litres more than the average for a day.
“We are doing everything we can to get water into our reservoirs, but some customers will continue to have intermittent water supply until reservoir levels have been restored.
“In preparation for this we have informed customers that while they have a supply they should put aside some water for essential use.
“We are continuing to ask customers in supply to use water for essential purposes only - for drinking, washing and cooking.
“We have bottled water collection stations already set up and are monitoring. Details of locations can be found on our website.
“Our customer care team will continue to support our most vulnerable customers with deliveries of bottled water.
“We are sorry to customers who have had interruptions or low pressure in their water supply and know how frustrating it is, especially in very hot weather.
“We will continue to do all we can to prevent and resolve the issues.
“For updates, please visit aqualerter.southeastwater.co.uk”