Over 30,000 properties in Sussex are without water as a result of a burst pipe in isolated woodland. The issue, which began on Thursday, has impacted customers in St Leonards, Hastings, and rural areas around Westfield. Southern Water has assured residents that there is “good progress” on fixing the issue but warns that the disruptions will continue over the weekend. The company apologised for the inconvenience caused and said “everything went to plan”, it hopes to have all water supply restored on Sunday. In conjunction with this, work to replace the burst pipe continues overnight.
The outages for the customers falling over the bank holiday weekend have also caused disruptions in various events. The May Day Bike Run and the annual four-day Jack in the Green festival, which typically sees thousands of visitors at Hastings, are among disrupted events. Despite the fact that the situation remains unchanged on Saturday morning, the organisers of the Jack in the Green festival said they could “carry on as planned” with the events.
Southern Water has announced that Tesco, Asda, and Sea Road have all reopened the bottled water stations by 09:30 BST on Saturday, and a fourth water station at Hastings Academy, in Rye Road, was confirmed on Saturday at 10:50. Customers were advised to take into account traffic when going to the water stations. The company also announces that work is underway to prioritise people with its 6,000 emergency service list.
Chief financial officer, Stuart Ledger, acknowledges that due to the difficulty of pushing water back into the network, some issues, including air locks, might crop up, but Southern Water is doing all it can to ensure there are no problems. The trapped air can obstruct water flow in pipes and, in doing so, cause a complete stoppage in the supply of water.
There remain uncertainties as to how the situation will pan out, with Southern Water and other agencies working vigilantly to ensure that all residents are taken care of and the situation at hand can be managed to ensure vulnerable people are looked after, including any anticipated impact on public toilets
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