Residents endure 'inhumane' conditions as block of flats in Chichester goes without water for five days

The water outage was first reported at on Friday, October 6, and, provision was not restored until Tuesday evening, meaning residents went without running water for five days.

Making clear that the issue is now resolved, a Clarion spokesperson apologised for the disruption, adding that residents have received regular water drops. The repair took so long, they said, because they had to order a specific part.

Even so, residents say they barely received enough water throughout the five day period, and had to fight tooth and nail for support from an unresponsive Clarion.

"We had to phone up to ask for water, which is the worst thing about it,” one resident, who asked not to be identified, said. “ We shouldn’t have to do that, they should be the ones reaching out to us, making sure we’re alright. But they didn’t. It’s disgusting, the way they’ve treated us.”

“On Monday we had a water drop, and that was just ten litres per family,” another added. “I’ve got teenagers. That only entitles us to one flush a day. We got about 14 litres on Saturday. You put six of those into the toilet, two litres in the kettle for hot water, two litres in the sink to wash up. That’s two litres of water for the rest of the day. That’s to drink. We can’t wash or do anything. We could barely flush our toilet. Nobody could.”

Desperate for respite, some residents say they had to travel to friends and family as far away as The Witterings, just to have a shower, and others have left the estate entirely. But many feel they don’t have anywhere at all to go, that there’s nothing they can do but wait for Clarion to fix the problem.

"It’s neglect is what it is. It’s totally inhuman. There are people here with no family, no one they can turn to, no where they can go. We have pets here, and children, and people with mental health issues and disabilities,” they added.