South East Water: Homes left without water in East Sussex

A number of homes in East Sussex have been without water for almost two days.

The issue is thought to have been caused by a burst pipe in Perryman's Lane, Burwash, with disruption beginning on Wednesday morning.

South East Water has been running a bottled water station in Heathfield.

In a statement on its website, the company said its network was slowly refilling but airlocks in the system were making the work "complex".

"These airlocks must be cleared carefully and systematically in order to prevent further bursts in the network" said the statement.

The bottled water station has been in Punnetts Town Village Hall, but closed at 21:00 on Thursday.

South East Water said it would be proactively delivering water to customers on its priority services register.

The incident came as the company announced it had paid £2.3m in dividends to investors, while being under investigation by Ofwat over its record of service to customers.

One resident of Brightling said she had been without running water since Wednesday morning.

She said: "You can't do the everyday things, flush toilets, washing up, you can't do clothes wash. I've got a dog and a cat and chickens that need water."

She said she had asked for water to be delivered to her.

"Punnet's Town Hall is quite a distance from Brightling and there's no public transport round here," she added.

It is not yet known exactly how many properties have been affected.

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