Firm urged to help as water dries up
A water company was told elderly people could die after they were suddenly left without water for five days.
Homeowners in Linton, near Maidstone, lost supplies as temperatures began hotting up earlier this month, with South East Water having to hand out emergency bottled water.
The firm received calls from 37 customers in the vicinity of Wheelers Lane and in ME17 and ME18 postcodes.
While water was restored, systems failed again at the start of last week.
An investigation into the cause is currently underway and the firm assured customers the network has returned to normal. Emergency water stations were set up for customers to collect supplies and the company delivered water to people signed up to their Priority Services Register, which offers extra support to those who need it in an emergency.
But Brian Tancock, of Wheelers Lane, told the company to deliver bottles to everyone affected. He believes it did not understand the seriousness of the problem, adding: “I was telling them what to do and then they were reacting. They were just treating it as a technical problem, not a real one.
“I got them to go door-to-door checking people were ok. I told them people are going to die.” Mr Tancock, was concerned for elderly people nearby.
“Old people don’t want to be a fuss. They have the Blitz spirit. They will just suffer on.”
His family received a delivery of 24 bottles of water a day which he believed was not sufficient during the hot spell. He said a normal service was restored to homes around 6pm on Tuesday, July 23.
Jenny Rhodes, regional network manager at South East Water, said: “We are really sorry to our customers in the Linton area who have been affected by loss of water supply or low pressure.
“We know it has been difficult, especially as we’ve had hot weather and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience.
“It has been difficult to find the cause of the problem because the network is very complex.
“We will continue to monitor the situation in the area closely.” She confirmed normal conditions had been restored.