Water outages caused by two burst mains

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South East Water said its technicians were "working hard" to solve the problem

Nearly 1,000 properties in East Sussex are either without water or with low pressure.

South East Water (SEW) announced disruption to supplies in Ditchling and Burgess Hill on Friday and attributed the problem to "two separate burst water mains" in the area.

The company added its technicians were "working hard to limit the impact before repairs can be carried out".

Burgess Hill resident Mike Bonsor said he could see water "bubbling up from the ground" on the town's Queens Crescent.

"Anything that's downhill from here to the junction with Station Road seems to have been affected by the leak," he added.

"There's a crack across the side of the road and there's a fair bit of water flowing out."

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Vanessa, who works at Dentalessence dental clinic, said it could not continue to operate without water

Vanessa, who works at Dentalessence dental clinic on Station Road, said they were also having issues and might have to close if the problem was not resolved soon.

"We're situated over three floors and our surgery and decontamination room right at the top have no water at all," she added.

"We've had to go out this morning to buy water in order to keep running the business, but we're coming to the end of that now and might have to shut."

SEW's head of water supply for Sussex, Rob Hall, apologised to customers experiencing "lower flows than normal, particularly those on higher ground".

"We have technicians in the area working hard to limit the impact of the burst water mains before repairs can be carried out," he said, adding that road closures would be required to complete repairs in Queens Crescent.

"This will affect 14 properties, while repairs on Oldlands Avenue will impact 18 properties," Hall added.

He said SEW was "arranging for bottled water to be delivered" to those hit.

SEW brought in a hosepipe ban across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire on 20 July.

A ban in parts of Kent has been in force since 3 July.

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