Around 31,000 properties are without water in East Sussex due to a burst water main. Southern Water said the disruption in St Leonards-on-Sea and some areas of Hastings is expected to continue into Sunday.
In an update shared on Saturday morning, the water company said: “Our teams worked through the night to remove the broken pipe and replace it with a new length of pipework. We are making good progress on the repair. When the repair work is completed, we will then recharge the network and restart our water supply works. However, this will take time and we expect disruption to continue over the weekend.”
Water bottle stations have been opened to deliver bottled water to more than 6,000 customers on the company’s priority services register. The issue was first reported on Thursday afternoon, forcing schools, a leisure centre and a theatre in the area to close.
Southern Water added the burst main is located in Keeper’s Wood “deep in woodland”, making it difficult for crews and machinery to reach it. Spokesman Tim McMahon said the burst is in the “most difficult location” he has ever seen.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “This burst is in a very, very difficult location, I’ve been in industry for 20 years, it is by far the most difficult location I’ve ever seen. You know, we’ve had to fell 50 trees just to get to the burst.”
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Water bottle stations have been opened to deliver water to customers on a priority list (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Lesley Arshad, a resident of St Leonards, is disabled and says she has been left off the priority list by the water company. Speaking to the Today programme, Lesley said she contacted Southern Water to be put on the priority list last year and was sent a letter confirming it – but after ringing on Thursday to ask for water, she was told she was not on the priority list.
She said: “I rang the customer service representative and he said that I wasn’t on the list and I said that I had received a letter from Southern Water to say that I was. He said ‘oh it’s probably because you live in a flat’ but he said I would get some water but not sure when I would get it.”
A spokesperson for Southern Water said they have been in touch with Ms Arshad and will be delivering water to her on Saturday. They added: “We’re supplying more than 6,000 vulnerable customers who are on our priority service register in the affected area, and will investigate any issues where people who are on our list to receive water haven’t.”
Posting later on X, formerly Twitter, the company said: "We're sorry if you've found it difficult to access our water stations due to traffic, and that there are delays. Our drivers are stuck in the same traffic but are on their way. Hastings Academy and Sea Road are serving customers more quickly, while Tesco and Asda are restocked."
Peter Haldane, 43, of The Highlands Inn Hotel & Bar, said he had to queue for three hours to collect 30 bottles of water as there was no running water at the hotel – which expects to lose thousands of pounds in revenue.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: “We had 10 rooms fully booked and we’re expecting that nine will cancel. That’s £100 a night. They are well within their rights to cancel. We don’t have working toilets or showers. This weekend is the annual four-day Jack In The Green Festival in Hastings, which Mr Haldane described as “one of the biggest weekends of the year”.
Bottled water stations have been set up at Asda and Tesco in St Leonards-on-Sea and Sea Road in Hastings.
The White Rock Theatre closed its doors on Friday due to the water supply issue, cancelling the Millie’s Nightclub event, a pop-up nightclub for adults with learning disabilities, which was due to take place on Friday.
The White Rock Theatre closed its doors on Friday due to the water supply issue (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)This weekend is the annual four-day Jack In The Green Festival in Hastings, described by Mr Haldane as “one of the biggest weekends of the year”. The White Rock theatre shared on its website it is “deeply disappointing” that the issue also coincided with the annual celebrations.
Summerfields Leisure Centre posted on Facebook on Friday afternoon saying: “Due to Southern Waters disrupted supply the centre is currently without any running water and therefore cannot open until the supply resumes. As this problem does not seem to have a quick fix we have made the decision to close the centre for the rest of the day and will update tomorrow when we know more.”
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Meanwhile, a notice on Churchwood Primary Academy’s website said it was closed as there is no water supply in the area. St Paul’s Church of England Academy in St Leonards was also closed on Friday.
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