Major water supply incident in Sussex

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:56 am

Wife works for the council. This message has just gone out to the councillors:

The supply of water from Darwell reservoir to the Baldslow treatment plant in Hastings has failed.

The Hastings network of drinking water is affected- the water supply will cease imminently.

A major incident has been declared.

You will be updated when more is known.

This is the main reservoir serving Hastings and much of the surrounding area. Our water is already cut off.

Post by **adam2** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 2:10 pm

Another report here.
https://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news ... lt-2550649

Rather surprised that this not getting more publicity.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 2:28 pm

adam2 wrote:Another report here.
https://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news ... lt-2550649

Rather surprised that this not getting more publicity.

Indeed. There has been no official announcement. The Hastings Observer story has the same source as my own information - an email sent out to local councillors this morning.

Our water is still off.

EDIT: Now announced on Southern Water's website: https://www.southernwater.co.uk/incident-map

Just says: "Complicated burst"

Post by **clv101** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 2:33 pm

How many people are affected? ~100,000? That's going to be a lot of emergency water distribution by tea time - whilst observing social distancing at the stand pipe!

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 4:14 pm

clv101 wrote:How many people are affected? ~100,000?

Something like that, yes. Maybe more like 150K.

That's going to be a lot of emergency water distribution by tea time - whilst observing social distancing at the stand pipe!

They have just announced it is fixed.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 4:58 pm

UndercoverElephant wrote:
clv101 wrote:How many people are affected? ~100,000?
Something like that, yes. Maybe more like 150K.

[quote[
That's going to be a lot of emergency water distribution by tea time - whilst observing social distancing at the stand pipe!

They have just announced it is fixed.[/quote]

Probably have to boil your water for two days while they test and retest after the repair.

Post by **adam2** » Tue Apr 28, 2020 12:09 am

Following ANY failure of the mains water supply, I would always boil, chlorinate or otherwise treat the water before drinking it, for a couple of days.

My reasoning being that there might be a leak in a water main. Under normal circumstances the pipes are continually under pressure and any leak merely results in waste of water.
If however the water supply fails, then any leak could allow foul water to enter the water supply en route to the consumer even if meets the required standards when leaving the water works.

I would likewise avoid drinking untreated mains water for a day or two after a major fire in the area. The amount of water used by firefighters may result in very low or negative pressure that permits foul water to enter the system through any imperfection.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:26 pm

adam2 wrote:Following ANY failure of the mains water supply, I would always boil, chlorinate or otherwise treat the water before drinking it, for a couple of days.

My reasoning being that there might be a leak in a water main. Under normal circumstances the pipes are continually under pressure and any leak merely results in waste of water.
If however the water supply fails, then any leak could allow foul water to enter the water supply en route to the consumer even if meets the required standards when leaving the water works.

I would likewise avoid drinking untreated mains water for a day or two after a major fire in the area. The amount of water used by firefighters may result in very low or negative pressure that permits foul water to enter the system through any imperfection.

Well the city will have added extra chlorine at the point of the break before making the last connection so adding more is unnecessary. Boiling does drive off any excess chlorine that gets to you tap. The boil water order is standard operating procedure as it takes two days to take the tests and get the results back. Your fire fighting comment is spot on as some fire departments don't coordinate with their water departments and extra testing and precautions might not even been done after a fire where fire trucks placed mains under vacuum.