South East Water: Customers in East Sussex without water for third day

Some properties in East Sussex have spent a third day without fresh water.

Supplies have been affected in the Brightling and Robertsbridge areas, South East Water said.

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

On Friday evening, South East Water said about 23 households were still without supply, and apologised to customers affected.

Earlier, the company said it estimated completion of the work to reconnect supplies would be at 08:00 GMT, but that was later changed to 13:00, and then to 18:00.

Farmer Christine French said it had been difficult to get enough water for her cattle.

She said: "We've got 36 youngsters which are running out of water rapidly. They need to be fed at least twice a day."

Sasha Powell told BBC Radio Sussex: "We have horses, ducks and geese so you can imagine not bathing for two days, and looking after livestock and keeping them watered has been a nightmare."

Another customer, Bev Wood, said South East Water had been "atrocious".

"[We've had] no communication unless I ring them, even though I've asked for updates."

The company, which is currently under investigation by Ofwat, revealed this week that it has paid out £2.3m in dividends to investors.

Ofwat is investigating South East Water over its service to customers and record in maintaining a water supply.

The firm said the £2.3m was less than the £4.5m paid a year earlier and a figure which was lower than what Ofwat believed was reasonable.

One woman told BBC Radio Sussex most of the village of Brightling had been without water since Wednesday.

Caroline said the closest water station was about four miles (6.4km) from her home.

"They could at least have dropped some into the village hall so locals here could have gone and picked it up," she said.

In a statement on its website, South East Water 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.

Steve Benton, incident manager for South East Water, said: "We know this has been a very frustrating time for our customers and we are very sorry for the disruption.

"We have been rerouting water to help get as many customers as possible back into supply but regretfully, the issues we are facing to restore supply to Brightling are ongoing and we still have around 23 households still without their water supply.

"We have been out delivering bottled water to all customers who are currently without water.

"Our incident team will remain in place until all the issues are resolved."

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