Thousands of homes in an area of west Kent remain without water for a third day due to an issue at at a treatment works, a water company has said.
South East Water (SEW) has apologised to up to 24,000 customers in the Tunbridge Wells area who are experiencing a loss of water or low pressure.
The company has estimated the situation would be resolved by 14:00 GMT and posted that it was “beginning to fill our drinking water storage tanks at Pembury Water Treatment Works”.
Some schools across the area have said they will not be opening on Monday.
SEW added: “Once they have reached a good level, we will be able to send water to the area’s drinking water storage tank at Blackhurst.
“This process has to be completed slowly, to ensure we don’t cause any further issues to the network, however we expect customer supplies to start to return throughout this morning.”
The company said it would be reopening three bottled water stations in Tunbridge. Wells from 08:30 until supplies are restored.
These are at at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, Odeon Cinema Knights Way and RCP Parking.
Lee in Tunbridge Wells told BBC Radio Kent: “I’ve been without water since 14:00 on Saturday and cannot flush my toilet.
“I’m disabled and stressing out about the situation.”
BBC reporter Ben Moore said: “We’ve had to rely on friends to get the kids showered and using the toilets is problematic.”
Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin said he was also without water and had spoken to the chief executive of SEW: “South East Water has been utterly useless and their communication has been appalling.
“It has been an absolute disaster.”
About 24,000 customers were affected by the water outage on Saturday, with 1,150 properties in the Pembury area getting supplies back on Sunday.
The company said 500 homes had water restored since 05:00 on Monday.
Matthew Dean, head of operations control at SEW, said Pembury Water Treatment Works had stopped working “due to a bad chemical batch”.
A new batch of the chemical was received on Sunday, he added.
SEW said it had delivered bottled water to more than 4,000 of its most vulnerable customers.
A SEW spokesperson added: “When the water supply returns, you may experience discolouration.
“If your water looks brown in colour, please don’t worry as it is not harmful.”
