Water shortages affect thousands of homes in Kent and parts of London

Thousands of homes across Kent remained without reliable water on Friday as record heat pushed demand higher than normal. South East Water said supplies would stay intermittent through the weekend in several coastal and inland areas. Temperatures reached 35C in London and parts of England, lowering reservoir levels and straining the network.

The company urged customers to limit use to drinking, cooking and washing.

Kent supply issues Around 3,500 customers in Whitstable had no water, with supply expected to return later on Friday. Eight thousand customers across the town had already been affected on Thursday. In Cranbrook, 200 customers faced critical storage levels.

Another 8,700 homes in Ulcombe, Coxheath, Loose, Headcorn and Herne Bay reported low pressure or intermittent supply. Challock, Charing and Molash lost water overnight while reservoir levels were restored. Seven hundred properties there still had low pressure, and a bottled-water station opened at Challock Village Hall.

London burst main Thames Water has been repairing a burst main in the Southwark area since midnight Wednesday. Residents in postcodes SE5, SE15, SE22, SE24, SW2 and SW9 experienced low pressure or no supply. The company rerouted water and deployed tankers while completing two excavations at the junction of Nunhead Lane and Linden Grove.

Medically dependent customers on its Priority Services Register received bottled water.

Company statements South East Water incident manager Steve Benton said the utility pumped 619 million litres on Thursday, about 100 million litres above the May average on some days. He added that supplies were returning to some customers but would remain intermittent until reservoirs refill.

Head of water resources Nick Price said raw water stocks were healthy after above-average winter rainfall, but March and April were drier than normal and catchments in Kent received only 8 per cent of expected April rain. He compared the network to a motorway that slows when everyone uses it at once.

A Thames Water spokesperson said repairs were progressing after the first excavation and that traffic management remained in place around the site. Kent County Council said it would increase scrutiny of water supply, quality and infrastructure following recent outages.