Mid Sussex water-supply problems ‘completely unacceptable’

Recent problems with the water supply in Mid Sussex have been described as ‘completely unacceptable and intolerable’ by the leader of the district council.
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Water stock image

Jonathan Ash-Edwards spoke during a meeting of the full council about last week’s burst water main in Burgess Hill and the residents who went days without a supply during the August heatwave.

Mr Ash-Edwards said he had written to the chief executive of South East Water and also joined MP Mims Davies at a meeting with him to discuss what had been described as ‘an unacceptable debacle’.

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The August heatwave left thousands of homes in the Haywards Heath area without water for several days.

John Ash-Edwards SUS-180529-101656001John Ash-Edwards SUS-180529-101656001
John Ash-Edwards SUS-180529-101656001

A number of residents complained that South East Water should have been better prepared and should have given people a better idea of what was going on.

The leader told the meeting that the water company had ‘acknowledged the failings in their provision and the communication failings with local communities’, with 89 recommendations and actions identified.

One of those was to talk to the Environment Agency about how to bring about a hosepipe ban when needed.

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Mr Ash-Edwards said: “On one side of the district, people had no water for several days and on the other side of the district, through no fault of their own, residents were merrily using the hosepipe in the garden because there hadn’t been a clear message from South East Water.”

Adding that the council would ‘keep a very close eye’ on the situation, he said: “Hopefully there will be no further such incidents but we have agreed on the importance of greater local liaison about where bottled water stations should be in the event of such incidents. I know that was a particular issue.

“It is essential that Mid Sussex residents can have a reliable and consistent water supply.

“It is not a huge amount to ask.”

South East Water supplies 900,000 customers and pumped an extra 150 million litres of water a day into its network during the peak period of water demand in the heatwave.

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Some 170,000 litres of bottled water were given to customers at bottled water stations, with more than 40,000 bottles delivered directly to customers on its Priority Services Register.

Douglas Whitfield, director of operations for South East Water said: “Following the heatwave and extreme demand for water we saw in August, we have carried out a thorough review to see what could be done to reduce the risk or impact of a similar event in the future.

“The measures we are now investigating include some engineering solutions that would enable us to move water around the network during these periods and shorter term measures to try to further reduce demand for water.

“We plan new water resources 60 years into the future to ensure there is enough water for homes in a region – but clearly the pandemic this year changed the way people use water and we have seen more people at home during the summer than usual which all impacted.

“We have welcomed the close dialogue with the local authorities and we’ll work with them to ensure we can meet any growth in the region.”