Some homes in East Sussex were left without running supply on Christmas Day after a water main burst earlier this week.
Southern Water staff have been working day and night to fix the burst water main in Hastings since Tuesday, and were still working to resolve the issue as of Boxing Day.
The areas where customers had lost their water supply included TN34, TN35, TN37, and TN38.
Around 100 homes experienced low water pressure or intermittent loss of supply, the utility company said.
It said in a statement on Boxing Day: “These issues were primarily due to increased demand on the network while reservoirs were being refilled and a power outage at our Brede Water Supply Works, which led to a 25-minute shutdown of the site.”
“While we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of further interruptions, as experienced yesterday, both water supply works are currently running well significantly reducing the risk of pressure loss or a wider supply disruption.
“It will take several days for the drinking water storage reservoirs to return to their normal levels. Customers will be kept informed via our website, and our team will open the bottled water station at Pelham Place from 9 AM as a precautionary measure.”
The issue arose on 23 December after it was alerted to a burst water main north of Hastings, and teams raced to fix it.
Although the pipe was repaired on Christmas Day, Southern Water then told customers it was experiencing a problem at a reservoir in its network, which meant the water level was lower than normal.
Tania Flasck, director of Water Operations, said on Christmas Day: “We know this is worrying news, especially on Christmas Day, and we want to reassure our customers that we’re doing everything possible to restore normal levels at Fairlight Reservoir.”
Helena Dollimore, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye, said in a video post on social media platform X: “I’m angry that Hastings once again is paying the price for the failures of Southern Water.
“How can our town's network of pipes be in such a state that one burst puts us in this precarious position?”
She told the Guardian: “Our town’s water infrastructure is not fit for purpose after years of neglect, and Southern Water must do better...after a major five-day water outage last May when the same pipe burst, and an environmental disaster last month when millions of plastic beads escaped their wastewater plant, we cannot endure any more.”
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