Water returns after shortage affects 1,400 homes

South East Water said supplies were returning to normal after a technical issue left more than 1,400 customers without water or with low pressure.

The company said the disruption happened in Ditchling, East Sussex, on Friday while engineers were making changes to the network to help protect supplies during prolonged hot weather.

Downlands Community School in Hassocks closed for the day because of the outage.

South East Water apologised and said its site team had resolved the problem, adding: "Our team on site has now resolved the issue at our site and you should now see your taps flowing as normal."

The company said teams had been rebalancing the network by moving water around the area to restore supplies.

Rob Hall, head of water supply for Sussex said: "Our teams are working hard to rebalance the network by moving water around the area and customers should see their supplies return shortly."

Customers were asked to use water only for essential purposes while supplies recovered.

The company said some returning water could appear brown because small iron particles in water mains had been disturbed.

It said the discolouration was not harmful and advised customers to run their cold kitchen tap until the water became clear.

"Once again, we're very sorry for the disruption to your supplies," South East Water said.

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