A burst water pipe in dense woodland has left thousands of homes in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings and the surrounding area without mains water.
Southern Water says it is endeavouring to get machinery to repair the fault to the site and has extended opening hours for stations where residents can collect bottled water. The bottled water collection station will also be open tomorrow and vulnerable people who can’t get to a collection point should phone a special hotline for a delivery.
There is no timeline on when a full service might be restored but Southern Water says it expects supply issues to continue into the weekend.
In a statement Southern Water: We’re sorry customers in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings and areas in and around Westfield have woken up to no water this morning.
“This is due to a burst water main in an area of dense woodland that has impacted the flows to Beauport Water Supply Works. We have located the burst, and our teams worked through the night to get machinery and equipment ready to start making the repair today.
“We will provide further updates about this throughout the day, but we expect this incident to continue into the weekend as making the repairs will take time but we’re working as quickly as is safe to do so.
“All of our three bottled water stations are open but anyone travelling to them should be aware of traffic and waiting times this morning.
“We are continuing to deliver bottled water to our vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register.
“Our helpline number for vulnerable customers needing access to bottled water as a priority, or for other customer queries relating to the supply interruption, is 0330 303 0368.
“We are very sorry for the impact and inconvenience this is causing, and are doing everything we can to restore supplies.