Rye, Camber and Winchelsea residents face water supply misery

Queues have been forming at Rye bottled water station

A water company has apologised as households in East Sussex face supply misery for a seventh day.

Southern Water said the issue was caused by a burst pipe affecting supplies in Rye, Winchelsea and Camber.

The company said while some customers should have a more stable supply, some residents in Camber were still without water, and it was investigating supply issues which emerged in Point Hill.

"We're sorry for the continued disruption and distress," it said.

Southern Water said the supply issues in Camber, which left residents either without water or with low pressure, were caused by problems it was experiencing feeding water into the households via tankers.

"We expect this to be resolved by midday," a spokesperson said.

The company also said customers in Point Hill have no water.

"We're doing investigations into why this is, and we expect this to be resolved by midday," the spokesperson added.

Southern Water said reports of black water at Rye Harbour and the River Tillingham are unrelated

The company said it "identified an unknown leak" last Friday and discovered the burst pipe off Udimore Reservoir on Sunday.

On Friday, bottled water stations reopened at Rye station and Western car park in Camber.

Madeleine Spanswick of the Owl Hotel in Camber said she had been forced to shut.

"We can't open with no water" she said.

"Not having any warning didn't help us at all. We just woke up with no water.

"There was no notification, no text message, nothing at all, so we just had to close down and send staff home. That impacts on their wages."

Madeleine Spanswick has been forced to close her hotel because she has no water

Hastings and Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart said she was having regular meetings with Southern Water, but called for the regulator to take action.

"Ofwat need to be a lot tougher with our water companies to make sure that they do provide the services they need," she said.

"I know Southern Water have found this leak to be unprecedented, but it's about having the systems in place to ensure where there is a lack of water supply, water is supplied.

"A week is too long."

Meanwhile, Southern Water said reports of discoloured water and dead fish at Rye Harbour and the River Tillingham were unrelated issues.

It said in a statement: "We take pollution concerns like this very seriously and have taken numerous samples at various locations.

"Our samples have indicated that ammonia levels are not at levels that would cause concerns."

The Environment Agency said it was investigating.

An EA spokesperson added: "The river has a bluish tint and initial investigations point to a natural event, which has caused low dissolved oxygen levels resulting in some fish deaths."

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