Thousands of people in Kent have been asked to use water for essential reasons only because of supply issues caused by high demand in the heatwave, as the hot weather led to record-breaking temperatures for May.South East Water’s head of operations control, Matthew Dean, said that on Tuesday they pumped 660 million litres of water to customers across the region, more than 100 million litres higher than the average for a day. Bottled water stations have been set up across the area, with details of their locations on the South East Water website.Mr Dean, said: “Around 18,000 customers across Kent are still experiencing water supply issues due to extremely high demand during the very hot weather. We are doing everything we can to get water into our reservoirs, but some customers will continue to have intermittent water supply until reservoir levels have been restored. “In preparation for this we have informed customers that while they have a supply they should put aside some water for essential use. We are continuing to ask customers in supply to use water for essential purposes only – for drinking, washing and cooking.”