Water supply to 1,200 properties in Cuckfield affected by storm
Storms have affected water supplies to 1,200 properties in West Sussex, according to South East Water.The company said emergency repairs were needed at one of its treatment works, leaving people with low pressure or interrupted supplies.Jim MacIntyre, incident manager for South East Water, apologised to customers in the Cuckfield area.He said: "Storms affected one of our treatment works late [on Saturday] night, but I am pleased to say that our team of expert technicians has now completed the necessary repairs."
He said reservoir storage was recovering and, once levels were back up, water would be pumped into the network to fully restore supply overnight."We understand that supply interruptions are frustrating and we thank our customers for their patience and understanding," Mr MacIntyre added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The UK is getting drier. Could reusing greywater help?
Water shortages are no longer a distant threat. By 2055, in England alone, the public will face a shortfall of 5bn litres a day – a shortfall of such immensity it will require societal and cultural change, which experts argue needs to start today. Scientists have long predicted that the UK would not be immune to climate change-induced extreme weather. The evidence is all too clear now that our traditionally grey, mild and wet European island – which this weekend experienced a heatwave made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis – is already in the midst of a water crisis that will only worsen in years to come. The Environment Agency has said it expects water companies to save 60% percent of the 5bn litres a day shortfall by managing customer demand and reducing the 3bn litres a day they leak from their pipework. The remaining 40% would come from boosting supply, including through the construction of new reservoirs and water transfer schemes. David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, has recently urged people to cut water use by shortening shower times, collecting rainwater and turning off taps when brushing teeth. And last week, Affinity Water advised customers to cut water use with the same tips. While these are sensible ways to reduce individual household consumption, with public trust in the water industry at an all-time low as a result of Britain's rivers being flooded with sewage, it might be a hard message to land. What is so far missing is a strategic response from the government, the regulators and water companies to change behaviours and facilitate the reuse of rainwater as well as the greywater in our homes – the runoff from baths, showers, and washing machines – to properly tackle high water consumption. The average person in the UK uses 142 litres of water a day, compared with 78 litres a day in Slovakia – the lowest in Europe – and 300 litres per day in Switzerland (Europe's highest). While the government has a target under the Environment Act 2021 for individuals to cut their water use to 122 litres per person per day by 2037-38 – considered far too unambitious by many – the existence of the target is a mystery to most people because there has been no public information campaign, no social media outreach and no widespread household leafleting to explain the problem and encourage changes to our lifestyles to reduce consumption. Ofwat has been talking about a public information campaign for several years, and the Guardian understands that after many delays, a £100m campaign will be launched later this autumn. For their part, water companies are focusing bill payers' money on mega engineering projects to boost supplies, such as desalination plants, water transfers and new reservoirs, rather than investing significant energy into a strategic approach to make reuse a feasible option in our homes. Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Rivers Trust, said rather than being seen as waste, water must be treated as a precious resource, managed as close as possible to where it falls as rain and appreciated for the critical role it plays in our economy, ecosystems and in keeping us alive. 'We cannot simply build and bulldoze our way to water resilience,' he said. Smart metres are considered the best way to cut household consumption because they provide real-time usage data, identify leaks and encourage behavioural change. Yet only an estimated 12% of households in England have smart meters fitted. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion In countries more used to drought conditions, holding on to water and reusing it is an established system. Rainwater collection and reuse, capture and reuse of greywater, are all tried and tested methods to reduce water consumption in countries such as Australia, Cyprus, the US and Japan. In Cyprus, one of the most water stressed countries in Europe, the reuse of greywater which comes from washing machines, basins and baths is reducing consumption in households by 50%. In Japan, the most common greywater reuse system in a home is a toilet with a hand basin set into the top of the cistern, which allows water from handwashing to form part of the refill volume of the toilet. Residential reuse projects for non-potable water – that is not suitable for drinking – can be found in every state of Australia. Alastair Chisholm, chief executive of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, said harvesting rainwater or greywater and reusing it to flush toilets could cut an individual's water use to 80 litres per person per day. He wants the government to set up a national rainwater management strategy and make it mandatory that new-build properties limit consumption to 80 litres per person per day via new pipes and fittings to enable rainwater or greywater reuse. Building regulations also need to change to mandate water efficiency to 80 litres per person per day in new homes, he said. 'We need to treat rainwater as a resource and asset to be valued and we need regulatory and policy change to do this,' said Chisholm.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Forty lost children reports at crowded West Wittering beach
Parents are being warned to "remain vigilant" after a coastguard team received more than 40 reports of children missing in a single day at a crowded beach in West Coastguard Rescue Team urged families to stay together when visiting West Wittering beach after receiving a high number of emergency callouts on in Chichester said there had been "multiple reports" of lost children during the weekend heatwave, all of which "required a large number of resources to assist them in being reunited". HM Coastguard confirmed all the children had been found safe and well. The Chichester beach's managers had advised people not to turn up without a pre-booked ticket on Saturday, as car parking spaces were already at coastguard rescue team said it was "an exceptionally busy day".It added it also had to deal with several other incidents, such as helping people who had got into difficulty in the water, administering "medical assistance" and "setting up a helicopter landing site in Chichester".A spokesperson for the team advised parents to ensure their child is wearing a wristband with contact information written on it, which can be obtained for free from lifeguard suggestion was for parents to take a selfie with their children upon arrival, so search teams can see what they are wearing should they go is also useful to pick out an easily recognisable meeting point in case families become separated, the spokesperson added.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
What weather Glastonbury festivalgoers can expect after UK heatwave
Hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers are expected at Worthy Farm for Glastonbury, with gates opening on Wednesday. The Met Office forecasts mostly sunny and cloudy skies for the festival, with temperatures generally ranging from highs of 23C to 25C. Wednesday and Sunday are predicted to be the warmest days, reaching 25C with sunny intervals. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are expected to have highs of 23C, with conditions varying from overcast to sunny intervals. The festival forecast follows a recent UK heatwave where temperatures reached 33.2C, marking the warmest day of the year so far.
