Update from SE Water (29 May)

Good evening,

Customers across Kent are still experiencing water supply issues as a result of incredibly high demand during this heatwave. We are sincerely sorry to customers who have had interruptions or low pressure in their water supply and know how frustrating it is, especially in very hot weather.

The situation

Yesterday (Wednesday 27 May) we pumped 628 million litres of water to customers across our region. This is higher than the average for this time of year, and over the weekend we were treating and pumping 100 million litres more than the daily average for May.

As mentioned in our earlier update there are intermittent supplies across many areas, which means customers will see water going off and coming back on throughout the day. Some areas are experiencing a full loss of supply.

Local reas currently affected include:

• Ulcombe - fewer than 20 customers are currently out of supply and we are delivering supplies of bottled water on a daily basis.

• Headcorn - around 1,600 customers have intermittent supply, with those on higher ground most likely to be impacted.

What have we been doing?

In areas where there has been supply interruption - or where we believe issues may occur - we’re delivering bottled water to our vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register. We have delivered 229,464 litres of water to customers on our Priority Services Register and also delivered bottled water to critical care settings such as care homes, GP surgeries, pharmacies and dentists.

Additionally, we are supporting the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Herne Bay and urgent care unit with a tanker and supporting those with livestock. For those who require livestock supplies please email community@southeastwater.co.uk

We have bottled water collection stations set up and we are constantly reviewing this. Details of locations and opening times today (Thursday, 28 May) can be found here:

• Ulcombe Village Hall, Headcorn Road, Ulcombe

These may change to reflect the current situation, please check the website for up-to-date information.

We planned for the hot weather by increasing output at our water treatment works across our supply area and putting extra water into the network. All our available water treatment works are currently working at full capacity.

Our fleet of tankers has been working 24/7 putting an extra one million litres of water into the network in areas where demand has been extremely high and to support our stored water reservoirs. So far, we have tankered over 975,302.00 litres of water into the network.

In addition we have had some leaks and bursts, while this is normal for a network of 9000 miles of pipework and 6 million joints, we have increased our teams who are out finding and fixing leaks.

Looking ahead

In other parts of our supply region, customers on higher ground may also have low pressure or no water or have an intermittent supply. This is likely to continue into the weekend.

Our call centre is experiencing high call volumes. Customers can find FAQs, details of bottled water stations and information about locations currently experiencing supply issues via our website.

We're sorry for the inconvenience caused and can reassure customers our teams are out working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as we can.

We’re encouraging customers to:

• Stop using jet washes, hosepipes and sprinklers. Swap paddling pools for water blasters to keep kids cool and the car and patio can wait for a wash.

• Think about where you can swap tap water for recycled water. Reuse water from baths, showers and sinks in the garden.

• Act now, please do all you can to cut down on everything but essential water use, which is drinking, washing and cooking.

Once again, we are sorry to customers who have had interruptions or low pressure in their water supply. We will continue to do all we can to prevent and resolve the issues.