More than 1,000 properties left without water

More than 1,000 properties in Medway have been left without water on Christmas Eve due to a burst water main.

Southern Water said customers in the Strood area of Kent might be experiencing low water pressure or no water at all.

The firm said it was close to locating the burst and was working around the clock.

The outages began on Monday morning, and bottled water stations will remain open into Christmas Day.

On Christmas Eve Medway Council announced Strood Sports Centre would be open from 09:30 GMT to midday on Christmas Day for residents without water to have showers, saying it owed staff "a huge thank you for giving up part of their Christmas Day".

A spokesman for Southern Water said: "We are in the process of installing some new valves within Gun Lane, once complete this will assist us in narrowing down the leak location.

"To be certain that customers still experiencing low pressure or no supply have enough water for Christmas Day, our support teams will be providing a double delivery of water overnight."

Stephanie Davidovitz, head of water networks at Southern Water, said: "We currently have four tankers which are also putting water into our network, which will again top the areas up.

"I want to apologise to our customers, this is not a situation that I want any of our customers to be in, particularly on this day going into Christmas."

Southern Water said bottled water had been delivered to the majority of affected customers, although some did not receive a delivery.

The water company said that was being investigated and customers who did not get a delivery were being prioritised.

It said there was a bottled water station open at Keystone Medical Centre, Gun Lane, Rochester, which would be open until 22:00 and then, if required, reopen at 08:00 on Christmas Day.

Strood resident Helen Potts said she had been told it could take two days for her water to return.

She said: "It's not very good for Christmas, is it? Not very good at all.

"We have bottled water, plenty of bottled water now, but you don't realise how many times you use your tap."

Medway Council leader Vince Maple said: "I'm urging Southern Water to put as much resource as they practically can into resolving the issue.

"They need to do more to make sure every household affected has a reasonable supply for Christmas.

"The council's emergency planning team are working with Southern Water."

Southern Water said that regular updates were available on its website.

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