Bottled water stations open amid supply disruption

Six bottled water stations have been opened across Kent, as supply problems for South East Water customers continue.

The company said it has restored supplies to 1,500 properties but said about 500 were still without water on Saturday due to drinking water storage tanks reaching "a critical level".

It blamed high demand during the week-long heatwave and urged customers who still have a water supply to only use it for essential purposes, such as drinking, washing and cooking.

The firm said it was also working to repair a burst water main "impacting around 182 customers" in Brook, Ashford, adding that about 3,000 customers "may be experiencing low pressure or an intermittent supply" in the Coxheath, Loose, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Kemsing and Benenden areas.

Some villages began experiencing water supply issues on 23 May.

The bottled water stations, which will be open from 09:00 to 21:00 BST, are at:

• Challock Village Hall, Blind Lane, Challock, Ashford, TN25 4AU
• Kingsnorth Church of England Primary School , Church Hill, Kingsnorth, TN23 3EF
• Sainsbury's Altira Business Park, 6 The Boulevard, Herne Bay, CT6 6GZ
• Sainsbury's Reeves Way, Chestfield, Whitstable, CT5 3QS
• Kavanagh Cinema, William Street, Herne Bay CT6 5NX
• Morrisons, Sutton Road, Maidstone ME15 9NN

South East Water's incident manager, Steve Benton, said: "We are conscious that today is forecast to be another hot day and demand is therefore likely to remain high.

"Although our network is recovering, levels of drinking water in our storage tanks are still low and we are asking customers to use water for essential purposes only - drinking, cooking, and hygiene."

"We have given out almost 900,000 litres of water at our bottled water stations across Kent and continue to identify new locations for other stations to open."

He said the company was supporting the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Herne Bay and had a dedicated tanker for local farmers with livestock.

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