Schools closed as water shortage hits South East

Bottled water station at Headcorn Aerodrome in Ashford, Kent

Households across the south-east remain without water and schools have been forced to close as supply issues affect parts of Kent and Sussex.

The outage has affected areas including Rotherfield, Mayfield, Tunbridge Wells, Crowborough and Wadhurst, but South East Water have not provided an estimate on how many homes are without water.

The utility company apologised to customers and said the situation overnight was "stable".

It previously asked people to only use water for essential purposes such as drinking, cooking and hygiene.

The outage forced several schools to close during the exam period, although it is unclear if any secondary schools are shut.

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

School closures

• Beacon Academy's Sixth Form, Green Lane, Crowborough

• Rotherfield Primary School, Crowborough

• Mark Cross Church of England Primary School, Crowborough

• Wadhurst Church of England Primary School, Wadhurst

• Sacred Heart Primary School, Wadhurst

• Claremont Primary School, Tunbridge Wells

• St James' Primary School, Tunbridge Wells

• Mayfield Church of England Primary School, Tunbridge Wells

In a tweet, South East Water said it had isolated a burst water main in Tunbridge Wells.

It said it expected water to be restored "to the area" by Wednesday afternoon but the outage appears to be ongoing.

In a tweet, the water company urged customers to limit their water usage, provoking anger from Twitter users.

One person responded: "Please don’t cast the blame on your customers using water. This is simply a diversion tactic. We have had no water - none whatsoever- for 3 days. I do not blame my neighbours. I blame you for a gobsmacking failure to deliver the most basic service we pay you for."

Kevin McCall, a Wadhurst resident for 20 years, said his water supply went off on Monday afternoon. He has had to shower at his mother-in-law's home in East Grinstead.

Speaking to BBC Radio Sussex, Mr McCall said the communication from South East Water had been "absolutely diabolical" and that its website had no useful information.

"People should be held accountable," he said.

"Something we can't live without is water and it cannot be seen as a profit-making business."

Mr McCall said it was "totally unacceptable" and that "everyone is so angry that they're being treated like they don't count".

South East Water experienced supply issues in December 2022 after pipes burst due to snow and ice thawing rapidly overnight, leaving thousands of households across Kent and Sussex without water before Christmas.

A government minister told the provider it "must act urgently" to significantly improve its performance.

The company has blamed prolonged dry weather over the last six weeks on the pressure placed on local supply.

Some social media users claim to have identified leaks in their area.

'A difficult time'

South East Water's incident manager Nick Bell said: “The situation overnight is stable and we are working hard to make sure that continues and our underground storage reservoirs refill.

“However, due to the very high demand there are still some customers in Cranbrook, Biddenden, Rotherfield, Mayfield and Wadhurst who are without water or have low pressure."

He added: “We are sorry to those customers and we know this has been a very difficult time."

Residents without water have been forced to collect bottled water from their nearest station

Nusrat Ghani, the Conservative MP for Wealden, said the water issues were "just awful".

"We’ve had four or five days of heat and now we have four days of no water," she added.

"South East Water are saying it’s an issue about demand and supply, but we were here at Christmas and New Year when the water failed my constituents and we’re here again, and it’s hot."

She told the BBC: "We do occasionally have warm days in this country and the water company is failing my constituents yet again."

Greg Clark, the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells, said: “It’s completely unacceptable that we should be, whether in the winter or summer, worried about getting water, or in many cases not getting it.”

He said South East Water’s chief executive had assured him water supplies in Tunbridge Wells would resume “shortly”.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” said Mr Clark.

“We can’t go on like this. We can’t be worried in the summer and worried in the winter,” he added.