Temporary hosepipe restrictions for South East Water’s Kent and Sussex customers

Demand for drinking water in Kent and Sussex has reached record levels in June – with customers using a similar amount of water as in the drought last year. This situation has left South East Water with no choice but to restrict the use of hose pipes and sprinklers in both counties.

The South East has experienced a prolonged period of dry weather. This, coupled with the high temperatures experienced in recent weeks has seen customer demand for treated water reach record levels. Regrettably over the last week this has begun to impact customers across Kent and Sussex, who have experienced low pressure or no water, as stocks of drinking water have reduced to very low levels in our local clean water storage tanks.

The company’s facilities are currently working at full output, with every water treatment work and water source available to the company producing treated water to keep up with demand. Despite this, the company is unable to return drinking water storage tanks to satisfactory levels to ensure that it is able to consistently provide clean safe drinking water for its 2.3m customers

South East Water said despite producing an additional 120 million litres of water a day - equivalent to supplying four towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne – the demand for water has broken all previous records, including during the Covid lockdown heatwave periods.

David Hinton, Chief Executive Officer, South East Water, said: “This situation has developed much more rapidly than last year. Understandably, we’ve seen customer demand increase in line with the hotter weather, however this has impacted our ability to keep all customers in supply at all times. Despite asking for customers help to use water for essential uses only, regretably we’ve now been left with no choice by to introduce this temporary use ban restriction to protect customers supplies across Kent and Sussex.

Despite asking for customers help to use water for essential uses only, regretably we’ve now been left with no choice by to introduce this temporary use ban restriction to protect customers supplies across Kent and Sussex.

“The long-term forecast for the rest of the summer is for a dry period with little rainfall, although temperatures may reduce slightly. Restricting the use of hosepipes and sprinklers to make sure we have enough water for our customers’ essential use, will ensure we can serve our vulnerable customers and to protect the local environment.

The temporary restrictions, will be enforced from 26 June. This will mean that customers will be prevented from using hosepipes for watering their gardens, washing cars, patios and boats and from filling swimming and paddling pools.

We are very aware that climate change and other factors are increasing the frequency of these events and we are submitting proposals to our regulator, Ofwat to solve these issues.

“I would like to thank everyone who has already taken steps to try and reduce their overall water use but despite this, demand still remains very high which is why we have taken this decision to bring in temporary use restrictions.”

For water saving tips along with free water efficiency gadgets go to www.southeastwater.co.uk/savewaterinthesun

For information on the latest water demand levels across the region go to

www.southeastwater.co.uk/waterlatest

To sign-up for the company’s Priority Services Register which is available for customers with medical conditions, restricted mobility, additional needs, sight and hearing issues who may need some extra support contact the Customer Care Team on 0800 952 4000(opens in a new tab) or go to www.southeastwater.co.uk/psr