West Sussex has 20,000 homes without water after plant failure

Thousands of homes have been left with little or no water following a failure at a water supply.

Southern Water said that the outage was a result of low levels of chlorine at its Hardham water supply works and that 20,000 customers had been affected, with the number expected to rise to 40,000 throughout Sunday.

The company said three bottled water stations had opened and that deliveries would be made to vulnerable customers while a fleet of 19 tankers was supporting areas most in need of supplies and hospitals.

On Sunday, the company said that chlorine levels had stabilised and that the plant was once again operational while the next steps would involve recharging the network and refilling the reservoirs – work which would continue throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

Southern Water customers were warned that they could see intermittent water supply during the recharge, which was normal, and that there was no need for concern, and that if plans progressed as expected they would see water return within the next 24 hours.

The company had said Horsham, Billinghurst, Broadbridge Heath, Pulborough, Codmore Hill, West Chiltington, Wisborough Green, Rudgwick, Loxwood, Barns Green and Slinfold had all had their supplies disrupted.

Southern Water must ‘step up’

A spokesman said: “Our sites operate to the strictest standards for water quality and are designed to automatically shut down well in advance of any risk to our customers.

“The incident was caused by unusually low levels of chlorine being detected at our Hardham water supply works.

“Chlorine is an important part of our standard treatment processes, used to ensure water quality meets the very high standards set.”

Andrew Griffith, Arundel and South Downs MP, said: “It is at times like these when the mark of a good organisation is excellent communications and a rapid response to fix things or to help those most impacted.

“We need our local councils and Southern Water to step up and help households who have already been without even a basic water supply for 12 hours.”