Southern Water warn issues will continue despite supplies being restored in Hastings and St Leonards

070524 SOUTHERN WATER
More than million litres of bottled water have been delivered to vulnerable customers on the Priority Services Register (PSR) since Thursday night, making it one of the biggest bottled water operations ever handled by Southern Water. Credit: Southern Water

Southern Water is warning problems with the mains supply will continue for people in Hastings and St Leonards despite homes being reconnected.

Water will be restored to the remaining 2,000 homes who've been affected by a burst water main since Friday, with 30,000 households reconnected by Tuesday morning.

Despite the pipe being fixed, the company is warning that properties will experience low pressure by 'peak demand'.

Three bottled water stations at Asda, Tesco and Sea Road have been made available on Tuesday Credit: ITV Meridian

The firm said, "Peak demand is causing low pressure problems due to the geography of the area and we therefore expect customers to experience intermittent supplies as we build up reservoir levels and increase water pressure.

"We're also dealing with a small burst in the Fairlight area as a result of restoring supply, which we have a team working on right now.

"During peak demand times, customers are likely to still experience fluctuations in pressure. Understandably, customers will be using more water than usual as well and we're working hard to manage the demand."

The burst was repaired on Saturday, but the service had to be restarted, Southern Water said. Credit: Southern Water

The outage has caused a great deal of frustration for business owners, with some hotels having to collect seawater to flush their toilets.

All schools and colleges in the area opened as normal on Tuesday but three bottled water stations remains in place.

Since the problems started, more than one million litres of bottled water have been delivered to vulnerable customers, making it one of the biggest bottled water operations ever handled by Southern Water.

Around 400 employees of the company have been involved in managing the incident, as well as contractor partners.

A fleet of 24 tankers have been deployed to support those areas still without supply.

East Sussex county councillor Godfrey Daniel said the impact on businesses in Hastings would be “drastic”.

Southern Water said that the burst main is in Keeper’s Wood, near the A21, “deep in woodland”, which made it difficult for crews and machinery to reach it.

The company said they were “deeply sorry” for the loss of supply and they had been working around the clock to fix the issue and help customers, especially those who are vulnerable.

They added, “If you are a vulnerable customer, or need access to water for medical reasons, and have not received a water delivery or had yours stolen, please call 0330 303 0368 to let us know we need to help."

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