Water returns to 'majority' of homes after outage

South East Water says issues with supply have cleared in the majority of affected homes in West Kent

Water has returned overnight to the majority of customers in west Kent affected by a burst main, South East Water has said.

The supplier apologised after the incident, which damaged critical equipment at a water treatment works, initially affecting about 7,000 properties from Saturday.

The outage affected Kings Hill, Wateringbury, Yalding, West Kingdsown, Borough Green, Hadlow and Five Oak Green.

Phil Jones, South East Water's incident manager, said water had returned for most customers but some areas could still see "no water or low pressure".

He said: "There are localised areas affected by no water or low pressure due to air pockets in the pipeline network, and we have teams out and about working to clear them."

Bottled water stations will still open in Asda in West Malling and West Kingsdown Library in London Road from 09:00 GMT "as a contingency", he added.

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

South East Water also warned that, as supplies returned to homes, water "may appear discoloured or cloudy" but posed no risk to health.

Customers should run their cold water taps until the water turns clear, it said.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Monday 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".