Around 168 homes in Eastbourne were left without water on Sunday afternoon as the record-breaking May heatwave piled pressure on South East Water’s already strained network. By Monday, at least 250 homes across the company’s region remained cut off.
The Eastbourne outage was caused by a burst main in the Decoy Drive area, with South East Water confirming repairs were “proving to be quite complex.” The fault hit supplies across Meadowlands Avenue, parts of Willingdon Park Drive, Roffey Avenue and roads near Lindfield Road, leaving residents scrambling in the heat. The company directed affected customers to its online interruption map for updates.
It was part of a wider regional crisis. The worst-hit areas were the Kent villages of Charing, Challock and Molash, where around 800 homes lost supply on Sunday, prompting the company to open a bottled-water station at Challock village hall and run deliveries to those unable to collect.
South East Water pinned the shortages squarely on the weather. “As a result of the recent hot weather, we’re seeing increased demand across our network and we’re having to pump far more drinking water than usual,” a spokesperson said, explaining that supplying higher ground had become especially difficult as usage surged. The UK recorded its hottest May day on record over the bank holiday, with London passing 34C on Monday.
But for many customers, the heatwave explanation has worn thin. The outages land on a company already in deep trouble. Its chairman, Chris Train, was forced to resign earlier this month after sustained criticism from MPs over repeated supply failures. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published a scathing report saying it had “no confidence” in South East Water’s chief executive and board. The firm also faces a £22m fine from regulator Ofwat over failures in 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 286,000 people across Kent and Sussex.
This is not a one-off. Last December, up to 16,000 homes went without water for almost a week; in January, around 30,000 properties faced problems. The pattern of repeated, prolonged outages is exactly what prompted the MPs’ intervention.
Brighton Local Angle
For Brighton and Hove residents, the Eastbourne outages are an uncomfortably close warning. The city sits within the same regional water network, and the same combination of soaring heatwave demand and an ageing, crisis-hit infrastructure that failed Eastbourne could just as easily strain supplies along the coast. With staycation numbers climbing and the hot weather forecast to persist, the pressure on the network is unlikely to ease soon. Households across the city are being urged to reserve tap water for drinking, washing and cooking, and to think twice before filling paddling pools or reaching for the hose.
For now, South East Water says crews are working “as quickly and safely as possible” to restore supplies. Whether that reassurance lands with customers who have heard it many times before is another matter entirely.
Related Reading
- How to save water during a Sussex heatwave
- Brighton braces for record temperatures this week
- Your guide to staying cool in the city
