Thousands of residents in Whitstable, Kent, have been left without running water as storage reservoirs reached a critical level during the ongoing heatwave. South East Water reported that approximately 8,000 customers are affected, with queues forming at bottled water collection points, including one at a local Sainsbury's.
The company has urged customers to use water only for essential purposes such as drinking, washing, and cooking. Supply issues have persisted since the bank holiday weekend, with 7,000 additional customers experiencing low pressure or intermittent supply in areas including Tankerton, Ashford, Ulcombe, Cranbrook, Coxheath, and Headcorn.
South East Water incident manager Steve Benton apologised and said supplies should return later on Thursday, though they may remain intermittent over the weekend. He added that 7,000 more residents are at risk of losing supply. The company pumped 628 million litres on Wednesday, and over the weekend treated more than 100 million litres above the daily average for May.
Kent County Council has announced a new strategic partnership to oversee water resilience in the county, following a series of outages. Council leader Linden Kemkaran said residents are 'fed up' and that the partnership will provide clear scrutiny of water companies. The move comes after calls from the Green group to declare a 'Kent Water Supply Emergency'.
This latest crisis follows a scathing report by MPs earlier this year, which led to the resignations of South East Water's chairman and chief executive after thousands were left without water between November and January.
