"Diabolical" Mid Sussex Water Supply Situation Says MP: "Really Sorry", States South East Water

A fifth consecutive day without a proper water supply was reportedly continuing today (August 11) for some households and businesses in Haywards Heath, Bolney and Warninglid.

Mid-Sussex MP Mims Davies described the situation, reported by some customers, as "diabolical", when they claimed that priority customers including a nursery were left without water.

You are absolutely right ‼️ for some people this is day 5 without water & this is truly diabolical - this is not helping as @sewateruk promised this delivery first thing & then didn’t - absolutely unacceptable & gives people ZERO comfort this is being taken properly seriously https://t.co/HkMDJvUsGn

— Mims Davies MP (@mimsdavies) August 11, 2020

The water company began apologising for its troubles at 8am on Saturday, after spending several days warning customers via traditional and social media about the impact that too much water use would have on its network.

At the time, the reasons for the company's requests to customers seemed to suggest South East Water was aware that the network of pipes, treatment plants, reservoirs and pumping stations might not cope with a sudden surge in demand.

As the situation worsened, the water company's requests stayed the same:

With the #heatwave set to continue, we urgently need everyone to continue to reduce their water use!

We know it’s hard while the weather's hot, but your actions can make a difference and ensure everyone has the water they need to drink and clean with 👉 https://t.co/20bLe053FU pic.twitter.com/3yh17TwcA9

— South East Water (@sewateruk) August 9, 2020

Bottled water stations have been set-up in the following locations:

• The Rawson Hall, The St, Bolney, Haywards Heath RH17 5PF
• Seaforth Hall, The St, Warninglid, Haywards Heath RH17 5TR
• Haywards Heath Rugby Football Club, Whitemans Green, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath RH17 5HX
• The Woodside community centre, 120 Middle Village, Bolnore Village, RH16 4GJ.

The water company is also committed to making direct deliveries to vulnerable customers.

To demonstrate the demand, on Monday, South East Water released this bar-chart showing daily supply, with the normal demand indicated by a blue line at the bottom.

However, when judging its scale, it must be remembered that the visible area showing the increase is less than half the area that the normal demand would occupy, if the graph's designer had not cropped it from the bottom of the chart.

In today's communications, South East Water has deepened its apologies, saying:

"We're really sorry to our customers in the Bolney, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath and Warninglid areas who are without water or experiencing low pressure."

In a statement it gave the reason for continuing loss of supply or low pressure as reservoirs being drained so much that insufficient water remained to allow pumping to operate normally:

"Over the weekend, Warninglid Water Tower and Cuckfield service reservoir, which supplies the area, became low and this meant the pumps were unable to boost supplies. 

"Our technicians have been dispatched to all water production sites in the area and these stations are being manned 24/7 to ensure they run without interruption."

The company also said it was "injecting top-quality drinking water from other areas directly into the pipes around Bolney", and was using water tankers in Warninglid, Cuckfield and Haywards Heath.

More Radio is continuing to monitor this developing situation.