South East Water says sorry to customers without water during heatwave

Bottled water collection points have been set up at four locations

South East Water has apologised to homeowners struggling without supplies as temperatures continue to exceed 30C.

At least 300 households in West Sussex have had no tap water since Friday. Others have had intermittent supplies.

One man said he has been forced to bury human waste in the garden in the absence of a flushing toilet.

South East Water said: "We have worked tirelessly but we haven't been able to supply these customers just when they needed it. We are very sorry."

Steve Andrews, head of central operations at South East Water added: "We are working hard to try to make sure [the water] is on for this evening, but we can't guarantee it."

Customers in Haywards Heath, Cuckfield, Warninglid, Slaugham and Bolney have been coping with little or no water for days.

'Heartbreaking'

Gary Walker, from Warninglid, said he has been forced to "manually remove waste from the toilet and bury it in the garden".

"I've had to leave the village today and escape to the coast. It's just too upsetting," he told the BBC.

"Watching my parents - who are in their 80s - take water out of a well in the garden to put on their plants and flush their toilet is just heartbreaking.

"It's just upset me so much. People are really suffering."

Julia Martin, who runs Kings Hill Equestrian Centre, said she was worried for her horses.

"If we don't get water by the end of the day I don't know what we will do," she said.

Customers are being urged to avoid the use of hoses and to keep water for drinking, cooking and hygeine

South East Water said the supply issues were due to "the high demand across our region" as a result of the heatwave and more people spending time at home.

The company has urged people to avoid using hoses and to reserve tap water for drinking, washing and cooking.

Vulnerable customers

In the meantime, tankers have been brought in to inject water directly into pipes, and bottled water stations have been set up.

Mr Andrews said 32,000 bottles had been handed out to vulnerable customers, and 23 bowsers deployed to help deliver to customers with livestock.

He said the company was rerouting water around the network, but that could mean other locations experiencing problems on Tuesday evening.