Four schools in East Sussex have been closed because of water shortages across the area as criticism of South East Water mounts.
The company was communicating with customers in the affected areas by text message, according to some residents in Wadhurst. Three primary schools and one secondary school that had been forced to shut earlier in the week remained closed, East Sussex county council said.
Across Kent – also served by South East Water – shortages also continued. In Tunbridge Wells, the situation was exacerbated by a water leak on Wednesday that could take up to six days to repair, according to notices posted at the site on Hall’s Hole Road in the town.
East Sussex council said there had been no warning on Thursday for teachers at Harbour primary school in Newhaven over the continued lack of water or when it would be available again, so they decided to close the school.
“Teachers arrived in the morning to find there was no running water. There was no information about this on the South East Water website,” the council said. “We communicated this to parents and they were told we would give them an update at 10am. In the meantime, South East Water said that we should have water by 1.30pm so a decision was made to keep the school closed for the day.”
