No water or low water pressure in Ditchling, says South East Water, just days after shortage affects 1,400 homes

South East Water first announced the issue at 7.50am at aqualerter.southeastwater.co.uk, saying residents may be ‘experiencing no water or low water pressure’.

Another notice at 10.04am said: “We currently have a technical issue at our site, which means we are unable to pump the water.”

It said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused, restarting equipment can be incredibly complex. Please be assured we’re working as quickly and safely as possible.”

At 12.02pm another South East Water update said its team at the site had resolved the issue, adding that people should now see their taps ‘flowing as normal’.

The update said: “If your water looks brown in colour, please don't worry as it is not harmful. This happens when small particles of iron within the mains are disturbed. Your water may also appear cloudy, or white. If you fill a glass of water and it clears from the bottom upwards then this means your water is just a little more aerated than usual. Simply run the water from your cold kitchen tap until the water is clear.

“Once again, we’re really sorry about the disruption. If you would like further updates via SMS text message please use the form on this page and automatic updates will be sent to you.”

The Tuesday water problems came just days after South East Water reported a previous shortage in the area. On Friday, July 10, an estimated 1,400 customers were affected as residents experienced either no water or low pressure. This happened as engineers made changes to the network to protect water supplies during the hot weather. South East Water apologised for the interruption on Friday and the issue was resolved that day.

On Tuesday, at 7am South East Water also posted a message to customers on its Facebook page. This said: “We know water supply interruptions in Kent and Sussex are not what you deserved. We also understand how difficult and stressful those disruptions are for families, local businesses, and our communities. We are sorry for this and we’re working hard to make things right.”

The company said it has finalised a £30.5 million redress package with regulator Ofwat, which is funded entirely by its shareholders.

The post continued: “Instead of paying a government fine for the 2020 and 2023 interruptions, every single penny will be spent directly in your local areas to upgrade our network and support you. This is more than the original £22m fine proposed in March.

“This is how the funding is broken down: £13 million to carry out further investment following an independent review of our resilience; £5 million to speed up the smart metering programme for businesses; £5 million to provide free water butts to help households collect rainwater and reduce demand on the mains supply; £5 million to install on site-storage tanks and smart meters in high-usage businesses to help manage the network better at peak times; £1 million to make sure critical settings don’t run out of water if there’s a future outage; £1.5 million to create a community relief fund to give back to the communities that suffered the worst water supply failures.”

South East Water said this is part of its commitment to transforming its business and delivering its ‘largest ever investment programme’. The post said: “We’re expanding water storage to prevent these issues from happening again.”