Hundreds without water due to burst main

Hundreds of people are having to use bottled water in a West Sussex town after a water main burst.

South East Water apologised to customers in Hassocks after it spotted the leak on Friday night.

The firm said work to fix the problem, which had been completed, was "complex" because it was on a bend and the condition of the ground was "difficult".

It said earlier there were 686 customers without water but that service would be restored by Saturday evening.

The company said: "We are slowly restoring water to the area. It has to be done in a controlled way to prevent any further bursts.

"Most of our customers will have their supplies restored, but some areas will take longer and may not see full restoration until later this evening."

Its teams had worked through the night on Friday to fix the problems, it added.

"We apologise for the frustration and are working tirelessly to restore normal service as quickly as possible," a spokesman said.

It was revealed in June that more than 100 million litres of water a day were wasted by South East Water due to leaks.

There is a bottled water station at Tesco, in Burgess Hill, which will be open until 22:00 BST.

The firm said it had delivered bottled water to customers on its priority services register.

South East Water had also been fixing another burst pipe at Stanley Gardens, in Herne Bay, Kent.

It announced at 13:35 BST it had repaired the pipe and customers "should now see your taps flowing as normal".

It told them not to worry if water was brown, saying it was not dangerous.

"This happens when small particles of iron within the mains are disturbed," the company said.

Water could also come out white or cloudy, it added.

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