UNRELENTING hot weather has caused a huge spike in water use across Sussex as residents try to find a way to cool off.

But the surge in demand has left homes in several areas of the county without water.

Households in Bolney, Bolnore Village, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, Slaugham and Warninglid have all encountered problems, provider South East Water confirmed.

Steve Andrews, the company’s head of central operations, said: “Our teams have worked 24/7 trying to restore supplies to those customers in Mid-Sussex impacted by no water since Friday.

"At the same time we are dealing with a number of smaller incidents around the region, including intermittent supplies in Heathfield and a burst water main in the Rotherfield area of East Sussex.

The Argus:

“The high demand for water across our region has meant there are customers who have had no water or low pressure. All customers in the Mid-Sussex area who had been off since Friday had their water supply return yesterday (August 11)

“This was following work to reroute water around our network and the key treated water storage tank in Cuckfield was able to fill enough overnight for us to safely restart the boosters to pump water out into the network that morning.

 

“This restored supplies to those customers who desperately needed it who had been off since Friday.

“As explained though, this was likely to remain intermittent until we could get more water into the system.

“Supplies went off on Tuesday evening but were restored again this morning (August 12). We are working hard to try to make sure it is on for this evening.

“Moving water around meant other locations, Balcombe, Handcross area experienced low pressure or no water but this interruption was overnight and we have been able to restore supplies this morning (August 12).

South East Water urged customers to only use water for “essential use” such as drinking, hygiene or cooking.

The Argus:

Bottled water stations have also been set up at Rawson Hall in Bolney, The Seaforth Hall in Warninglid and at Haywards Heath Rugby Football Club to provide for those enduring shortages.

Fellow water company Southern Water has also warned that staff are having to work harder than usual to maintain water supplies for its customers. The company covers homes in east Kent, parts of Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

 

A spokesman said: “You may notice more tankers moving around our region at the moment. This is so we can redistribute the water and keep everyone’s taps flowing during the hot weather.”

To lower water use, customers are asked not to use hosepipes or sprinklers “which can use as much as 1,000 litres of clean water an hour”.