Southern Water have been taken to task over their handling of a mains leak, and subsequent problems with its repair, that has caused major disruption to the water supply throughout the area including Camber, Winchelsea Beach and Rye.
Whilst the source of the leak was investigated and in the process of being repaired and, in an effort to keep taps running, bowser tankers have been deployed by Southern to fill the water tower at Rye Hill and elsewhere to substitute the mains water supply which has had to be turned off in order to fix the problem.
Many households in Winchelsea Beach have been without water since Saturday, September 23 and have not had bottled water delivered since then. According to Southern's website, a red triangle at Winchelsea Beach (TN36 4LD) states that there has been no water / low pressure since September 23. The customer update on September 28 states that a bottled water station is being set up at Rye railway station car park (five days after the initial problem) and bottled water is being delivered. The website says to call 0300 303 0368 if you need to arrange a delivery of bottled water.
Rob Brown, a resident of Winchelsea Beach says: "We are now on our 5th day without water. Initially Southern Water texted to warn of supply disruption. Now there is no information at all. The tanker supply gives an occasional trickle but it's too big an area to be effective. Southern Water say they are delivering bottled water but they are not. All we want is to know what to expect."
To add to customers' woes, planned maintenance work that was scheduled in East Guldeford (TN31 7NR) on September 26 to 27 has meant isolating the water, resulting in no water or low pressure for residents in that area.
Camber has been similarly affected with households reporting that there have been limited and sporadic deliveries of bottled water and many homes and businesses in and around Rye have had problems with their water supply, resulting in some shops, cafes, pubs and other places having to close. Due to the intermittent nature of the low pressure or lack of supply, there has been very little warning as to when water will be on or off. The problem of lack of information from Southern Water via text, on their website or for callers, is compounding the problems faced by households and businesses.
Local resident Charlie Harkness says: "On Wednesday September 27, Rye's bus station area (and Jempson's) were full of schoolchildren at 1pm today as the academy appeared to have shut early because of water supply problems, and householders mentioned both long and short interruptions to water supplies - with some shops said to be badly affected."
In an email to Southern Water, Councillor Simon McGurk has called on the company to urgently address the problem, highlighting the lack of delivery of water bottles to the vulnerable, families with babies and young children, and the disabled.
Helena Dollimore, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye has written to Southern Water calling for urgent action on the repair and supply, and water stations in every village with Southern Water representatives present on the ground. She also raised the issue of compensation to residents and businesses. In a statement she says:
“Southern Water’s appalling treatment of residents in Rye and the surrounding area is more akin to 1823 than 2023. Southern Water has ignored my calls for immediate water stations in each area and instead promised deliveries that do not arrive. I have spoken to one woman in Rye this morning with an eight week old baby at home, who has been promised deliveries that do not arrive. There are many cases like this. Of the 35 residents who contacted me this morning, 97% had received no water delivery and were still without.
“Local pubs have been forced to close and local businesses tell me they have lost thousands of pounds due to the disruption so far. This is a water crisis and Southern Water need to get their act together and urgently get water stations set up in every area, get the water supply back on and then look at compensation for affected residents and businesses.”
Sally-Ann Hart, Conservative MP for Hastings and Rye writes: "Regarding the persistent water issues in the Rye, Camber and Winchelsea area, Southern Water were hoping to temporarily deal with the matter by delivering bottled water to homes.
"This has clearly not worked.
"I have constantly pressed for Southern Water to set up a water station. I understand that one is now set up in the railway station car park in Rye. I continue to press for water stations to be set up in the surrounding villages.
"I have also been in contact with DEFRA ministers about this ongoing serious situation and have urged them to take action."
In a statement on September 28, Southern Water apologised for the situation:
"We are sorry that customers in Rye, Winchelsea and Camber are continuing to have issues with their water supply this morning.
"Unfortunately, the repair and recharging is taking longer than expected and the measures necessary to fix the burst means we're unable to fill Rye Water Tower. This means customers are still being fed through water tankers and are likely to have intermittent periods of no water.
"We will open a bottled water station this morning and will announce further details of this when it is set up.
"We will continue to carry out bottle water deliveries to customers on our priority services register throughout the day. If you are concerned or have no water please call our customer contact centre on 0330 303 0368."
Ofwat, the water industry regulator, recently announced that Southern Water had failed to meet all but one of its targets resulting in the company required to refund £43 million to customers. The company, with profits of nearly £250 million, has been heavily criticised, and fined, for its record on pumping sewage into the sea.
Update: Thursday, September 28, 1:15pm
The Southern Water website has been updated with the following statement:
"On Friday 22nd September we identified an unknown leak in the area of our Udimore reservoir that feeds Camber and Rye, to the east of Hastings.
"This area is rural so locating the leak has been incredibly complicated. After an extensive search we found a burst on the afternoon of Sunday 24th September, off Udimore Reservoir. In searching for leak, we isolated some zones for a period of hours and re-established pressure and so some customers would have experienced low or no pressure for a number of hours, over the weekend, due to the investigation.
"We could not repair the pipe without significant rezoning of our network (as this pipe supplies around 80% of the water needed in the area) . This work involved installing two new valves to isolate the burst site, and from Tuesday night we have locked in zones which are being fed from tankers only, which has resulted in more prolonged periods of low and no pressure. We’d like to apologise if you have experienced less pressure than usual or experienced no water at all.
"To reduce customer impact, we immediately brought in a fleet of 16 tankers, which have been injecting water into the network to keep customers in supply since Saturday. We also started bottled water deliveries to customers on our priority services register at the weekend, and expanded this to reach more customers.
"Until Wednesday morning these tankers had been keeping the majority of customers in the area in supply – although they may have noticed a drop in pressure or had moments of intermittent supply as these tankers changed over. This has mainly happened during periods of peak demand.
"We would like to apologise if you have experienced less pressure than usual or experienced no water at all.
"On Wednesday we also we attempted to reconnect to the reservoir, but this has taken a lot longer than planned due to the need to meet certain criteria, such as water quality, which is paramount. This had complicated the tankering process, which is why customers may have noticed a change since Saturday.
"A revised plan is now in place to recharge the system, and we will continue to support this with tankers, until a permanent fix can be made to the burst main. This is due to be completed by the end of the weekend.
"Customers in the TN31 7 and TN36 which are Winchelsea Beach, Rye Harbour and Point Hill area will see more resilient supplies returned by this evening, as supplies are returned from the reservoir. If something changes this timeline, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
"Customers in Camber and Rye will be supplied by tankers until we can make the permanent fix, however, they should see an improvement as we divert tankers from Winchelsea Beach, Rye Hardbour [sic] and Point Hill to support you."
