East Sussex residents asked to reduce their water usage after pipes burst in the cold weather

South East Water says issues caused by the snow and ice thawing rapidly has lead to a 300 per cent increase in the number of pipe bursts.

The recent cold weather has left more than 15,000 homes and businesses in Kent and Sussex without water or with low pressure.

David Hinton, chief executive officer of the water firm, said: “We are very sorry to our customers who are without water but we are doing everything we can in this incredibly fast moving and challenging situation.

“This has resulted in many of our drinking water storage tanks, which hold treated water before it is pumped to customers’ taps, going empty or very low.

“Although we planned for this, we cannot predict when and where pipes will burst and are reacting as quickly as possible.

“Our teams are working flat out to find, fix and repair the leaks on our pipes but we’re asking customers to help too by checking their homes, businesses, empty properties, outside taps and troughs in any fields for leaks and get them repaired as soon as possible. Leaks within properties can cause extensive damage which can be costly to repair.

“To help us further we would ask our customers who do have water to only use water for the essentials, take shorter showers, do not leave taps running unnecessarily and only run washing machines and dishwashers when you have a full load.

"If possible, avoid using appliances at the peak times of 7am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm. This will make a real difference.”

On a normal winter’s day the company extracts, treats and pumps an average of 520 million litres of drinking water a day to customers.

However, the company say that during the past 24 hours this has increased by more than 100 million litres to over 620 million - the equivalent of adding almost three towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne to its network overnight.

The company is putting all available resource to finding and fixing leaks on its 9,000 miles of pipe as well as handing out bottled water.

Bottled water stations have been or are in the process of being set up in the worst affected areas and the company say it is delivering water direct to its most vulnerable customers on its Priority Services Register.

David continued: “We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding. Unfortunately we are unable to say at this stage when supplies will return to normal.

“It is a constantly changing picture in very challenging circumstances beyond our control. All our teams are working 24 hours a day responding to and will continue to do so until supplies are restored.”

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Customers are also being asked to check their own pipes for bursts and to call a plumber if necessary. Anyone responsible for commercial premises, which may not have been visited since the thaw started, should check that their pipes have not been damaged.

Updated information on areas without water and the sites of bottled water stations can be found at the South East Water website.