Thousands of households across the South East are facing a weekend of water shortages as experts warn Britain’s infrastructure is struggling to cope with the extreme heat.
A surge in demand for water over the past week has left more than 20,000 properties in Kent and Sussex with little or no supply due to South East Water (SEW) infrastructure failures.
Other companies, such as Thames Water, are warning customers to reduce their usage as they struggle to cope with a spike in demand.
The outages in the South East were a sign that the UK’s “infrastructure is more vulnerable than it should be” to extreme heat, said Hannah Cloke, regius professor in meteorology and climate science at the University of Reading.
As temperatures climb again this weekend, SEW is warning that thousands of households are likely to experience “intermittent supply” over the coming days.
