Some people who lost their water supply on the Isle of Sheppey are still left without it today.
A burst main on the island off the northern coast of Kent meant up to 20,000 people were left without water yesterday or struggling with low water pressure.
Southern Water has been working around the clock to restore supplies since, and has apologised for the difficulties caused.
A spokesperson tweeted this morning: ‘We’re so sorry to say we’re still working on bringing supplies back. We have teams on site 24/7, and in the meantime the three bottled water stations are open this morning.’
The company has opened collection points offering bottled water outside Tesco and in the Promenade car park from 7am, and at the Minster Working Men’s Club from 9am.
Bottled water is also being delivered to people on the company’s priority services register, including people who are vulnerable or disabled.
The supply issues come after the Met Office issued an extreme heat weather warning into next week – saying some people are at risk of serious illness or death.
Forecasts suggest the UK could face temperatures exceeding 40°C in some places. This would be a new record, with the UK’s current highest temperature of 38.7°C set in July 2019.
An update on the Southern Water website at 11.30pm last night read: ‘We’ve fixed the burst pipe on the Isle of Sheppey and are slowly starting to refill the network.
‘This is to protect the quality of the water we’re sending back to your taps.
‘Before going to bed, we encourage all customers who’ve been out of water to please check all the taps in the house are turned off, in case your water supply returns during the night.
‘However carefully we try to recharge the network, discoloured water is normal after a supply interruption.
‘It’s not harmful and will usually clear in 24 to 48 hours, but if anyone is still having problems after this, please call us on 0330 3030368.’
The company had said yesterday: ‘We’re really sorry to customers on the Isle of Sheppey with low pressure or no water supply.
‘This is due to our repair work on a burst main in the area. Our priority is to set up bottled water collection points, and we’ll share locations and times soon.
‘We’re also continuing to make sure those on our priority service register have water delivered.
‘The team are working to get the repair finished as quickly as possible. We’re really sorry again for the disruption this situation will cause.’
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