Supply slowly returning to homes without water

Bottled water stations have been set up in West Malling and West Kingsdown

Around 3,300 homes in west Kent still have no running water as efforts continue to repair a burst water pipe.

South East Water has apologised after the burst caused significant flooding and damaged critical equipment at one of its water treatment stations on Saturday.

The incident initially affected about 7,000 properties in Kings Hill, Wateringbury, Yalding, West Kingdsown, Borough Green, Hadlow and Five Oak Green.

Incident manager Mark Sunley told BBC Radio Kent that he was hopeful everyone would have water back by midday on Tuesday, admitting that it has taken "too long" to repair the outage.

The company said it had restarted its water treatment works on Sunday night, and while now operational, as of 16:00 GMT on Monday it was not yet running at full capacity.

Repairs to the water treatment works are continuing and South East Water hopes to get another pump operating on Monday afternoon to increase the amount of water pumping to its storage tanks.

Bottled water was being delivered directly to care homes and customers listed on its priority services register, while bottled water stations remain open at Asda in Kings Hill, and at West Kingsdown Library & Village Hall.

Sarah Brooks lives in Yalding and has been without water since Saturday night

To date customers have collected 151,526 litres of bottled water, the provider said.

Earlier on Monday, residents reported waiting at Kings Hill Asda for the water station to arrive and nearby roads were gridlocked with vehicles.

Sarah Brooks, who lives in Yalding, said that the water was not there when she arrived at the bottled water station on Monday morning.

The bottles have since turned up and are being handed out but Ms Brooks said it was initially "very disappointing", adding, "I feel they've let us down big time this time."

Ms Brooks admitted that being without running water since Saturday night had been a "bit of a challenge".

"I've got two kids - we've had no water for washing up, drinking, flushing toilets or having showers as much as the kids might like it," she said.

David Fordham lives in Mereworth and has been without water since Saturday night

David Fordham, who has also been without water since Saturday night, said his partner had collected some water on Sunday.

"Obviously we are going to need a bit more," he said, "because we have a few bottles but you can flush the toilet or anything."

Grace Couch, councillor for Yalding at Maidstone Borough Council, said she had been in touch with emergency planning teams

Grace Couch, resident and councillor for Yalding at Maidstone Borough Council, said she had been "coping with it at home as it's just me at the moment".

Bottled water has arrived at Asda in Kings Hill for affected residents

Philip Jones, South East Water incident manager, said: "I am very sorry to all our customers who are still experiencing issues with their water supplies this morning.

"Last night we were able to re-start our water treatment works which shut down after a burst water main caused flooding and critical damage to equipment at the site."

He said that, although it was now operational, it was not yet running at full capacity but tankers were injecting water directly into water storage tanks to help with the recovery.

He added: "I'm sorry that most of the 7,000 properties affected are unlikely to get their water supplies back today."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was receiving regular updates from South East Water.

A spokesperson said: "The company must take urgent steps to support residents and resolve the issue as soon as possible."

It said the government was committed to protecting water customers "which is why we are forcing companies to double the compensation for supply issues".

It said it was also "unlocking more than £104bn in private sector investment to build infrastructure, including reservoirs and new water pipes across the country".