People in Kent and Sussex asked to use water only for essentials after outages

South East Water says demand has jumped owing to extreme heat but stops short of compulsory measures

South East Water has asked members of the public to use water only for essential purposes after demand surged on Monday to 100m litres more than average.

After water outages for hundreds of homes across Kent and Sussex over the last three days during record temperatures , the company has asked customers to use water only for drinking, washing and cooking.

On Monday 670m litres of drinking water was used across the company’s supply area – almost 100m litres more than the average for this time of the year. But the company has not imposed a temporary use ban, which would prohibit using a hosepipe to fill up paddling pools, water the garden or wash the car.

Matthew Dean, the head of operations control at South East Water, said the extreme temperatures had caused demand for water to surge, while storage reservoirs were running low in several parts of Kent .

“We had planned for this given the weather forecasts by increasing output at our water treatment works across our supply area and putting extra water into the network,” he said.

“Our fleet of tankers has been working 24/7 putting additional water into the network in areas where demand has been extremely high over recent days. However, due to the nature of water supply networks, some customers on higher ground or at the far end of the network may have low pressure or supply interruptions, especially at peak use times.

“As the hot weather is set to last a few more days, we’re asking for our customers’ help to keep taps flowing locally. We’re now asking our customers to use water for essential purposes only, for drinking, washing and cooking.”

An email to customers asked them to stop using jet washers, hosepipes and sprinklers, swap paddling pools for water blasters to keep children cool, and appealed for customers not to wash their cars.

It added: “Think about where you can swap tap water for recycled water. Reuse water from baths, showers and sinks in the garden … Act now, please do all you can to cut down on everything but essential water use, which is drinking, washing and cooking.”

Last week the government was urged to mount a public campaign aimed at the whole of society to reduce water usage. Peers on the House of Lords environment and climate change committee said the country would face daily water shortfalls of 5bn litres a day by 2055 without urgent action.

People in the UK use on average up to 140 litres of water a day, far more than those in other European countries. The government has a target to reduce average personal consumption to 122 litres a day by 2038.

On X, one South East customer, Brendan May, wrote: “Hilarious email from @sewateruk a couple of days into warm weather, in May, pleading ‘we need your help’ imploring people not to use much water as the system already can’t cope. We needed your help when we had no running water for days, twice. Sod off, stop lining your pockets.”