Water shortages continue in South East

Wealden MP Nusrat Ghani is calling for a hose pipe ban

Households in Kent and Sussex remain without water as supply problems persist in parts of the south-east for a fourth day.

Areas including Crowborough, Wadhurst, Biddenden and Staplehurst have been affected by outages which were first reported on Monday.

South East Water has apologised to those affected and said it is doing everything it can.

It said prolonged dry weather over the last six weeks had placed extra pressure on local supply.

Bottled water stations have been opened at Mayfield Memorial Hall, Rotherfield Village Hall, Sparrows Green Recreation Ground in Wadhurst and Headcorn Aerodrome in Ashford.

In a statement on Thursday, South East Water's incident manager Steve Andrews said: "We are continuing to ask customers who do have tap water supplies to only use it for essential tasks such as hygiene, hydration and cooking.

"Please don’t use hosepipes and sprinklers as this drains the system very quickly.”

The supply issues have provoked criticism from customers and local MPs directed towards the water company.

The situation was described as "completely unacceptable" by Greg Clark, the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells.

Some residents have expressed concerns over the environmental impact of plastic water bottles

The supply issues have forced several schools to close, and Rotherfield Primary School in Crowborough remains shut.

Sacred Heart School in Durgates, Wadhurst, partially reopened on Thursday afternoon after receiving bottled water and two large tanks of standing water.

The school's water supplies were cut off on Monday and acting head Antonia Gabriel said the last four days had been "a nightmare".

"Parents have had to juggle childcare with their own working conditions and many of them don't have water themselves," she said.

The school has had to cancel its sports day and summer fete due to the disruption.

Julian Hornsby, from Durgates, near Wadhurst, has had no water for four days.

Using bottles from a distribution centre, she and her partner have only been able to use water for drinking and cooking.

"There is not enough to wash crockery, ourselves or clothes," said Ms Hornsby.

She added that they were flushing their toilet using water from a water butt outside, but this would not last much longer and was stagnant, so could not be used for anything else.

The couple are cleaning their hands using sanitiser gel.

Ms Hornsby's daughter and her partner planned to stay for the week with their two babies.

But because of the water shortage, "we sent them home after two days," said Ms Hornsby.

Julian Hornsby has being using water from a water butt to flush her loo

Abi Lewin Smith, from Wadhurst, has been affected by the outage since Monday.

She said the situation was "absolutely appalling" and says that the government should have stepped in.

"Parents, schools, local businesses and the wider community cannot operate without knowing what’s going on," she said.

"And the lack of information from South East Water is compounding an already difficult situation."

Southern Water has also called for "wise water use" as it has seen demand increase by 15% - the equivalent of 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools too much every day.

"Although our reservoirs and groundwater sources are currently in a good position, if demand continues to stay at these extremely high levels and the dry weather continues, this will impact our ability to keep up with demand by treating water fast enough," Southern Water said.