Some schools reopen in South East England after problems with water supply
- Published
Thousands of people in the South East of England have had issues with access to running water since Monday.
South East Water said the problems were due to a number of issues like Storm Goretti and a power cut at its pumping plant.
Over 20 schools in Kent and Sussex as well as libraries and businesses had to close because of the problems.
Kent County Council told Newsround the water situation in most of Kent has stabilised, but Tunbridge Wells is worst affected.
Five schools are still closed in Kent there as they have no access to running water while one school in East Sussex has closed today for the same problem.
Schools closed in South East England because of problems with water supply
- Published2 days ago
Schools and businesses have had to close due to a lack of running water
Two schools in Tunbridge Wells will only open for the morning.
One says they have some water left in their tanks but will have to shut in the afternoon as it will run out.
A school for children who have additional needs in the area is being kept open by receiving a tankered supply from South East water.
A secondary school in the area which is still closed is arranging temporary toilets for Monday so they can open and remote learning is being provided for students for the rest of this week.
"The children have been resilient"
Mrs Smith is the Deputy Head Teacher at a school in Tunbridge Wells that has been affected by the water outage.
She told Newsround that they have had to put online learning in place for pupils while they wait for the issues to be sorted.
They first had to close part way through the day on Friday last week. After monitoring the situation, they made the decision to open on Monday but by 10am, the water had gone again and students were sent home.
Pupils have remained at home and have been taught by their teachers remotely, but Mrs Smith says it's not ideal:
"It's hard to assess how students are on screen and how they're progressing. As a teacher, that's what we're here to do, to look after our students. This has caused a big challenge for us to be able to do that effectively."
She added that the students have found it difficult to adjust.
"I think day one was hard because they're not used to it. The children have been resilient but they miss their friends. They miss their engagement with their teachers. It's very hard talking to a screen all day."
But the teachers have used the situation to their advantage as much as possible.
"We've set English assignments writing to David Hinton (the chief executive of South East Water) practising persuasive writing."
Five bottled water stations are open in Kent and Sussex
Kent County Council told Newsround the water supply situation in the wider Kent area has stabilised.
They also told us it was down to the head teachers to decide if it's safe for the school to open, adding:
"Practically, to open a school needs mains water to be flowing out of the taps, or for the relevant water company to provide tankered and bottled water.
"Along with teachers, parents and carers, we want pupils to be back in school and their learning uninterrupted."
South East Water's head of commercial development Nicola Higgins told BBC Radio Kent they aim to have a "consistent supply of water tomorrow morning" in Tunbridge Wells.
Why have there been issues with water supply?
People have had to pick up bottles of water from collection points. In East Grinstead they are being asked to "use water for essential purposes only"
South East Water has blamed low temperatures, leading to burst water pipes, and Storm Goretti, which it says has caused problems at water treatment works.
The company said that it is "incredibly sorry to all customers and businesses who have been impacted by this" and it is working to get the water back on again "as soon as possible".
Kent County Council declared a major incident and the government said the situation was "completely unacceptable".
Ofwat, an organisation that makes sure water companies do their job properly, launched an investigation into South East Water.
They found the company has breached a condition of its licence which means it failed to follow rules and requirements and they may now be fined.
