‘House on fire, people at risk in blazing heat – and not a drop of water’: Fury over South East Water hosepipe ban as fire rips through farm but there’s no water to put it out – as schools close and bottled water stations set up across Kent and Sussex
- South East Water imposes hosepipe ban from June 26 after record demand
- Some areas of Kent and East Sussex were left with little or no water this week
A water company provoked fury today after announcing a hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex due to a record demand for drinking water – with a lack of supply for some families leaving them unable to put out fires.
Residents slammed the ‘pathetic’ move by South East Water which comes after areas of the region were left with little or no water this week amid the heatwave, forcing schools to shut and families to pick up drinking water from bottled water stations.
And the firm was slammed over a fire at a farm in Rotherfield, East Sussex, last night that could not be put out until fire crews arrived because there was no water supply.
Donia Youssef, 45, a producer and writer, posted videos on Facebook today of the blaze at her parents’ farm and said they had had no water supply for a week.
She added: ‘My parents live on a farm, so all the animals are affected. And also with no water supply, people’s lives are in danger. As you can see from the fire, there was no water to put out from the home, because there was no water supply.
‘There were three animals in the room, who thankfully were rescued. But people’s lives are at risk in the blazing heat and there’s absolutely not a drop of water. No water for the toilets, there’s elderly people living in the home.’
A fire at a farm in East Sussex last night that could not be put out until firefighters arrived
Donia Youssef has posted videos of the blaze at her parents’ farm in East Sussex last night
Firefighters at the scene of the fire in East Sussex last night after they arrived to put it out
An East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: ‘We were called at 7.58pm to Rotherfield to reports of a fire. Crews from Crowborough, Heathfield and Uckfield used one hose reel jet to extinguish the fire. No casualties were reported.’
The fire service added that its engines can ‘carry a great deal of water’ and its crews had ‘increased the number of appliances turning out to fires in the areas that are currently without water, providing an extra tank of water to any incident’.
A plea to use only essential water for households stretching from Haywards Heath in West Sussex to Whitstable in Kent came in today and will be enforced from June 26.
Households will be banned in ten days’ time from using hosepipes or sprinklers to water gardens, wash cars, boats and patios or fill swimming and paddling pools.
Three months ago, England had its wettest March since 1981 and the third wettest on record – but last month saw overall UK rainfall at just 55 per cent of average for May.
South East Water said despite providing an extra 120million litres of water a day, demand in June has broken records – including from the 2020 lockdown heatwave.
The company claimed the ban is necessary because ‘exceptional high demand across the region has resulted in multiple water supply issues across our network’.
It added that the area has seen ‘very little rainfall’ while there have also been power outages during storms which have affected the use of water treatment equipment.
The firm also insisted that its raw water stocks had been good at the start of the dry period last month, but it is now ‘concerned about the impact that further abstraction will have on the environment’ – and calls for ‘voluntarily restraint’ did not work.
It comes after England last year faced its first drought since 2018 amid a very dry summer featuring 40C (104F) temperatures for the first time – leading to curbs on water usage including hosepipe bans, which aim to restrict non-essential water use.
South East Water told MailOnline today that the company also brought in temporary use bans in August 2022 and April 2012 – making this its earliest ban in 11 years.
The first hosepipe ban of last summer in Britain was declared a month earlier, on July 26 on the Isle of Man – after the driest six months since the drought of 1976.
Pallets of water bottles set up at a station at Headcorn Aerodrome in Ashford, Kent, this week
South East Water said the temporary hosepipe restrictions will come into force from June 26
David Hinton, South East Water’s chief executive, said today: ‘This situation has developed much more rapidly than last year.
How can you water your garden if you can’t use a hosepipe?
South East Water’s temporary use ban restricts the use of hosepipes or sprinklers to water a garden.
However, the company states that people can water their garden with tap water by hand, using a bucket or with a watering can.
They may also water their garden using greywater – such as from showers – or rainwater from a water butt through a hosepipe.
Households are also advised that they could investing in ‘drip or trickle irrigation watering systems, fitted with a pressure-reducing valve and a timer that is not handheld, that place water drip by drip directly onto the soil surface or beneath the soil surface, without any surface runoff or dispersion of water through the air using a jet or mist’.
South East Water said such devices are not banned under the hosepipe ban because they are very water efficient.
‘Understandably, we’ve seen customer demand increase in line with the hotter weather, however this has impacted our ability to keep all customers in supply at all times.
‘Despite asking for customers’ help to use water for essential uses only, regrettably we’ve now been left with no choice but to introduce this temporary use ban restriction to protect customers’ supplies across Kent and Sussex.’
Mr Hinton said the long-term forecast for the summer is a dry period with little rainfall, adding: ‘Restricting the use of hosepipes and sprinklers to make sure we have enough water for our customers’ essential use will ensure we can serve our vulnerable customers and to protect the local environment.’
Today, three schools in East Sussex partially closed due to water shortages.
Mark Cross Church of England Primary School in Crowborough said it could not open to all year groups because of reduced sanitary facilities and no running water.
Areas experiencing no or low water pressure during the week include Crowborough, Wadhurst, Mayfield, Lewes, Newhaven in East Sussex, and Biddenden, Staplehurst, Cranbrook and Ashford in Kent.
Wealden MP Nusrat Ghani has been calling on South East Water to introduce a hosepipe ban since earlier this week, blasting the company for ‘appalling’ outages across her East Sussex constituency.
‘Today is day six of misery and we’re still counting. It’s always too hot or too cold for @sewateruk to cope with demand in Wealden. We have been here before and lessons are never learnt,’ she tweeted today before the hosepipe ban was revealed.
Louise Harvey-Quirke, of Canterbury, Kent, posted two pictures of a leak in her local area
A plea by South East Water to use only essential water for households stretching from Haywards Heath to Whitstable came in today and will be enforced from June 26
She then added, after the announcement, ‘Result! @sewateruk impose hosepipe ban – days after I demanded one- this will increase the water supply to homes, schools & farms by 10 per cent. @sewateruk please get your acted sorted by the weekend.’
Farmer with 40 cattle and heifers about to give birth is ‘hysterical’ due to water shortages
A farmer with 40 cattle and heifers about to give birth is ‘hysterical’ due to the water shortages in an East Sussex area, a councillor has said.
Wealden District councillor Michael Lunn expressed the anger at the ‘crazy situation’ in the rural area of East Sussex hit by the lack of water, and had spoken to around 20 farmers affected by the drop in supply from South East Water.
He said one farmer with 40 cattle and heifers about to give birth was ‘hysterical’ due to the water shortages.
Mr Lunn also described how another farm owner with 20 horses also has no water provision.
‘It’s really serious,’ he said, adding: ‘As far as I’m concerned, they (South East Water) are just so, so slow in responding to this crisis.
‘We were aware this was going to happen… we are not shocked or surprised, we are disappointed and we are really angry.’
Mr Lunn, a farmer himself, also rejected South East Water ‘in effect blaming residents’ over their water usage but instead believes the water company is underinvesting in its infrastructure.
He added that in communications with South East Water, the crisis will not be resolved until ‘at least Sunday’.
Also after the ban announcement, Gareth Owen-Williams, Liberal Democrat councillor on Wealden District Council, tweeted: ‘Finally, an acceptance that @sewateruk is not (fit) for purpose.
‘They have failed at the first increase in demand because their infrastructure can’t cope. So why are we allowing more construction?’
Wealden District councillor Michael Lunn expressed the anger at the ‘crazy situation’ in the rural area of East Sussex hit by the lack of water, and had spoken to around 20 farmers affected by the drop in supply from South East Water.
He said one farmer with 40 cattle and heifers about to give birth was ‘hysterical’ due to the water shortages.
Mr Lunn also described how another farm owner with 20 horses also has no water provision.
One resident of the Kent village of Mereworth tweeted today: ‘Endless leaks and broken pipes, poor management of water resources, a couple of weeks of dry weather and customers are hit with a hosepipe ban. Pathetic.’
Another Twitter user said: ‘South East Water introduce a hosepipe ban – this country is pathetic, bit of snow and the country stops and a bit of sun and the country stops!’
And a third tweeted: ‘The totally inept and completely incompetent @sewateruk have imposed a hosepipe ban in our area. That is NOT the solution cretins! Fix the leaks and give us the water we are paying for @Nus_Ghani.’
A fourth Twitter user, Louise Harvey-Quirke, of Canterbury posted two pictures of a leak on the road in her local area and wrote: ‘@sewateruk morning. I noticed that a hosepipe ban has been imposed on us in Kent.
‘Perhaps if water leaks such as this one (just outside Canterbury) were fixed, water restrictions would not be required, or could at least be postponed?’
South East Water is asking customers to use water for ‘essential use only’ and has set up bottled water stations across affected areas while it builds up reserves.
Residents in Staplehurst, Biddenden, Wadhurst and Mayfield have been left without water
A gardener at Greenwich Park in South East London today watering flowers with a hosepipe
The shortage comes as the region has been hit by a heatwave, and according to the Met Office, a maximum temperature of 28C (82F) could continue until next Monday.
READ MORE Britain gets set for another scorching weekend with 82F temperatures – but the South could see a washout on Sunday with thunderstorms, hail and showers
However there is also a thunderstorm warning in place for England and Wales on Sunday, which could see up to 2.4in (60mm) of rain fall within six hours.
Another English water utility, South West Water, has had a hosepipe ban in place since April in Cornwall and Devon.
Southern Water, which supplies areas of Kent, also issued a warning yesterday that demand for water in the county was ‘outstripping supply’ as the spell of hot and dry weather continues.
The provider said demand is 15 per cent higher than expected for this time of year, and that this week has been the highest levels of use by Kent homes and businesses since last summer’s heatwave.
Other parts of Europe, generally accustomed to warmer weather than the UK, have also seen their own dry spells in recent weeks following extreme heat last year.
There are fears for crops in France and Germany and southern Europe bracing for a summer of droughts.
But strict usage controls in Britain are generally rare and are a sign of particularly dry weather which, when combined with high temperatures, has previously led to wildfires, damage to infrastructure and severe health problems for some.
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