Hundreds without water due to record demand during heatwave
Video report from ITV News Meridian's Andy Dickenson
Hundreds of households in the South East are without water as demand reaches a record high during the heatwave.
South East Water said at least 300 properties in Sussex were experiencing issues due to "unprecedented" demand.
A children's nursery in Haywards Heath is among those affected.
The nursery manager, Klara Verrall said: "We had over 65 children due in today that we've had to turn away. Even for families at home, their households have been affected."
South East Water says it's seen "unprecedented" demand for water over the past 5 days during the heatwave, which is a 30% increase on what it normally copes with in the summer.
Steve Andrews, who is Head of Central Operations at South East Water, apologised to customers in Warninglid, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath and Bolney who have had interrupted or no supply since Friday.
The company said it is pumping an extra 150 million litres of water into the network to try and keep up with the demand.
Some residents affected disagree and believe the shortages are due to the infrastructure.
Tony Bridger, who is a resident, said: "That's just blaming the customer isn't it, I think that's entirely unacceptable. They're just trying to sneak out of this one. Everyone around here knows it's the infrastructure that is an issue. We've got a reservoir just over the way there, the pipes and pumps are not sufficient enough to get the water all this way. Simple things like washing up is a problem, flushing the toilet with bottled water has been pretty unpleasant."
The Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, Mims Davies, agrees and said: "On behalf of my constituents, I'm very very angry at the way this has been dealt with. But I think this is really about poor planning from the company. This is not a surprise that we've been using more water than normal, there's been little or no rain since March. This heatwave and really extreme heat was not a surprise."
Water supplies for some households returned on Tuesday morning, with many families hoping that their drought is now over.