Water supply issues continue for third day

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 third 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.

The company says there are still hundreds of homes in the area facing "intermittent supply".

Nick Bell, incident manager at South East Water, said: "We're unable to confirm at this stage when supplies will be fully restored to all customers, but we're working hard to address this as soon as possible."

The company has been using four tankers to inject water directly into its network and this has helped restore supplies to some customers in the area.

However, South East Water is still trying to remove trapped air from its pipes, which is preventing water from reaching all its users.

"This takes time to remove airlocks and get water flowing through the pipes again," Mr Bell said.

A bottled water station is reopening at Sainsbury's in Reeves Way in Chestfield and the company is delivering bottled water to customers in the impacted areas, including those on its priority services register.

Earlier in the week the company issued an urgent appeal to residents in the South East to reduce their water usage.