Residents feel 'defeated' by ongoing water issue

Customers will be able to access a bottled water station in Chestfield

About 500 properties in an area of Kent are still facing water supply issues for a fourth day in a row.

On Wednesday, South East Water said up to 3,000 customers in Whitstable, Seasalter and surrounding areas had no water or low pressure due to the recent heatwave.

Callum Brockhurst, 33, who lives in Kimberley Grove, said he and other residents felt "totally defeated" by the ongoing situation and it was "affecting people's physical and mental health now".

South East Water incident manager Nick Bell said: "We recognise how frustrating it is that we're unable to give a time as to when supplies will be restored."

Mr Brockhurst added: "There's has been a lack of communication from South East Water except telling us they are sorry for the disruption."

He said the bottled station was nearly four miles (6.4km) away from his home

"It's not easy for people to access water and we don't drive," he said.

"We were given 12 two-litre bottles outside our house, which isn't enough to drink, cook with, clean dishes, clean clothes and clean ourselves with."

Mr Bell added South East Water was "extremely sorry" to impacted customers who were still experiencing no water or low pressure on Saturday and the team had "worked through the night to find new solutions".

"We are now focusing on bypassing the affected area to get supplies back for customers, but this requires large machinery which has arrived on site on Saturday morning," he added.

"As a result about 500 properties in the area are still having supply issues."

He added the company was continuing to remove trapped air from the pipes, which was preventing water from reaching all customers.

"Removing the airlocks and getting water flowing through the pipes is taking much longer than we expected as it has to be done methodically to reduce causing bursts," he said.

The company said a bottled station was open on Saturday at Sainsbury's - Reeves Way, Chestfield, Whitstable, CT5 3QS until 21:00 BST.

According to the company's website, it estimated the incident would be resolved by Saturday.