‘Around 300 households’ in Hastings suffering from loss of water supply, says MP

Hastings MP, Helena Dollimore said she believes ‘around 300 households’ are affected in Ore.

She said residents have contacted her, with some saying the loss of water supply has been a ‘regular occurrence’ over the last three to four weeks.

She added she has received reports that residents have been ‘completely without supply for hours at a time’, including on Wednesday (May 28) and over the Bank Holiday weekend.

One resident said: “When it has been running, it has often been brown or discoloured so I have had to buy bottled water for my family at my own expense.”

Another resident said: “For the past two weeks we have had very low water pressure together with the supply being non-existent on many occasions.”

Ms Dollimore has written to Southern Water’s chief executive, Lawrence Gosden, about the problem.

She said: “I have received reports from a number of residents in the Ore area of ongoing water supply issues. Residents have been experiencing an intermittent supply, in which they are left completely without water for hours at a time or pressure so low that there is no usable supply. I am alarmed to hear reports from engineers that there are issues with the Fairlight Reservoir and seek urgent clarification regarding this.

“Residents tell me that they have been in touch with Southern Water several times and each time are assured of a call back that never comes. Residents, including those on the Priority Service Register, have not had any bottled water deliveries, no water station has been opened and Southern Water have not properly communicated with residents or me about this issue.

“After all the disruption our community has experienced at the hands of Southern Water, this is unacceptable.”

The MP has called for the water firm to restore the water supply as a ‘matter of urgency’ and ‘adequately compensate’ affected residents.

A Southern Water spokesperson said: “We’re sorry some of our customers in Ore have been experiencing low pressure or occasionally no water. This is due to us having to repair a storage reservoir.

“To counter the impact of this, we re-routed water through the network to add additional supply from elsewhere, to ensure customers can be kept in supply. While most customers should experience no change thanks to this, 170 customers have been experiencing intermittent low pressure since April 26.

“We are working hard to get the reservoir back up and running but this will sadly take us some time. In the meantime, we are exploring other solutions to increase and maintain pressure, including installing new valves, and utilising alternative pipework. We hope this work will be complete by June 6.”