Hundreds of homes in Kent and Sussex left without water after supply outages

Hundreds of homes in Kent and Sussex have been left without water by a company that MPs recently accused of incompetence.

South East Water said the hot weather and extra demand for water meant it was having to pump more drinking water than usual to higher ground.

The outages began on Saturday and peaked on Sunday when about 800 properties in the Kent villages of Charing, Challock and Molash were unable to get water.

About 168 homes were also thought to be affected by outages in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on Sunday afternoon. At least 250 homes remained without water on Monday.

South East Water said extra demand for water was causing shortages for customers: “As a result of the recent hot weather, we’re seeing increased demand across our network and we’re having to pump far more drinking water than usual.”

On social media the company appealed to customers to space out their water use: “Sun’s out. We know the drill: nobody wants a water company telling them to save water when there’s leaks. Fair point.

“Our reservoirs are healthy. There is no shortage of water. But if we all use hoses at Saturday lunchtime, the water pressure drops and homes at the top of the hill can run dry. Spacing out heavy water tasks over the week means everyone on your street keeps their water pressure.”

The British public has one of the highest per-capita daily water usage rates in Europe, averaging roughly 142 to 150 litres a person a day. The government aims to cut water use in England by 20% a person a day by 2038, and to reduce average consumption to 110 litres a person a day by 2050.

A recent report said that, alongside rainwater reuse and grey-water recycling, an urgent campaign aimed at the whole of society was needed to encourage people to use less water, to avoid shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055 in England.

South East Water’s senior executives were accused of incompetence by a committee of MPs this month over repeated water outages for tens of thousands of customers.

The company, which faces a £22m fine from the industry’s regulator, Ofwat, over serious disruptions to the water supply over many years, had comprehensively failed to deliver for the consumers it served, the MPs said.

Its chief executive officer, David Hinton, announced plans to step down after the report, and the group’s chair also quit.

South East Water’s incident manager, Steve Benton, said: “We are sorry to our customers in parts of Kent who have experienced low pressure or no water intermittently this weekend.

“Around 250 properties in the Charing, Challock and Molash areas have been impacted by water supply issues, including low pressure or no water. This follows a technical failure at our pumping station near Charing, which means we have struggled to push water to properties on higher ground.”

He said a bottled-water station was open again on Monday at Challock village hall and deliveries were being made to some customers unable to visit.

Water supplies to 64 properties in Whitstable were also affected overnight after a technical problem with booster pumps. “We’re sorry to all impacted customers for the disruption cause,” he said.