Two bottled water stations are open at Manston airport, on Manston Road, and Aylesham Leisure Centre ‘as a precaution’ after Southern Water finished fixing an issue that had knocked out supply to some 9,000 homes since Friday.
Properties in St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster, Acol, Monkton, Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne and Bridge were affected due to issues with the water treatment process at Wingham Water Supply Works. Southern Water says that due to very heavy rainfall, raw water quality in the underground wells deteriorated, impacting the ability to abstract and treat to the required standard.
Yesterday (February 24) Southern Water put in place a temporary ‘rezone’ solution and overnight teams repaired the issue to the supply works.
However, it may take some time for the reservoirs at at Adisham and Aylesham to recover so Southern Water will continue using tankers to inject water into the network and has set up the two water stations.
On Friday and Saturday the water stations were at Canterbury and Aylesham, making it difficult for many from the Thanet villages to access them. Southern Water carried out deliveries to all impacted customers yesterday.
A Southern Water spokesperson said: “We are sorry customers in the affected areas of Kent have experienced water supply and pressure issues since Friday evening following difficulties at our Wingham Water Supply Works.
“Supply should be returning to normal to customers throughout the morning, this follows our teams successfully getting our supply works running again overnight.
“However, we are closely monitoring the situation and it will take time for our reservoirs at Adisham and Aylesham to recover.
“To ensure supply remains stable today, we will continue to use tankers to inject water into the network. We will also continue bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register.
“As a precaution we will keep two bottled water stations open this morning these are located at: Aylesham Leisure Centre and Manston International Airport, Manston Road, Ramsgate.”
