Water Outage Impacts West Sussex Properties and Businesses Following Burst Main

Properties located in parts of West Sussex experienced a lack of water for over a day due to a burst pipe. At 08:59 on Thursday, South East Water stated it would investigate the problem near Haywards Heath. The utility company later confirmed that the “very complex” repair was completed at 20:43 on Friday, with water gradually being restored to the pipework. Several businesses in the town were compelled to close temporarily while the repair work was underway. Incident manager Dave Harvey reported that supplies to all households had been reinstated by Thursday afternoon. However, two care homes and a property situated close to the burst pipe remained without water throughout the repair period. He commented, “We’re sorry it took longer than anticipated to complete the repair. This was due to complexities at the site of the burst.” South East Water indicated that 1,500 properties were initially affected on Thursday, but fewer than 50 were still impacted as the repairs were finalized. Customers had initially been informed that the repair work was expected to be finished by Friday morning. By 16:54 on Thursday, South East Water announced that service had been restored to a majority of affected customers, with bottled water being delivered to those still experiencing issues. The firm had previously stated its teams were working “around the clock” to fix the burst main. The Miller and Carter restaurant reported having no water and being unable to open, but confirmed the issue was resolved by 14:21 on Thursday. Similarly, the Beech Hurst restaurant stated it was forced to close due to the water outage at 12:30 on Friday. Dolphins Practice, a GP surgery, confirmed its continued operation despite being affected by the outage. For updates, BBC Sussex can be followed on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Story submissions are accepted via email at southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp at 08081 002250. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external sites and provides information regarding its external linking policy.