Homes without water for fifth day after pipe burst

Water stations have been opened in Kings Hill and West Kingsdown

Properties in west Kent remain without water for a fifth day following a burst pipe.

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

The outage had affected about 7,000 properties on Saturday in Kings Hill, Wateringbury, Yalding, West Kingsdown, Borough Green, Hadlow and Five Oak Green.

The majority of customers' supplies had returned but 117 properties in the Swanton Valley and West Peckham area were still experiencing no water due to air in the system earlier.

South East Water said at lunchtime that supplies should have returned to the "majority" of those homes.

A company statement said it was continuing work to release trapped air in the system to aid recovery in the network following the burst water pipe.

A spokesperson said: "Our site is back in operation, but we're seeing small air pockets that are causing supply issues for some customers."

'Let down'

The company said it was addressing isolated instances of low pressure.

A bottled water station at Asda in Kings Hill closed at 14:00, but another at West Kingsdown library and village hall remains open, the company said.

Residents previously told BBC Radio Kent they had been "let down big time" after bottled water was not initially available at the stations.

South East Water advised customers to run cold taps until the water turned clear.

It thanked customers for their patience while it continued working to restore supplies.