Thousands of households in southeast England were left without water or facing low pressure during a record-breaking heatwave this week, as high demand followed a dry spring to expose the failings in Britain's ageing infrastructure.
The disruption affected over 20,000 people at its height, including around 8,000 left without supply in the coastal town of Whitstable, South East Water's incident manager Matthew Dean said, with people queuing to secure emergency water supplies on Friday.
Britain, like much of Europe, has been hit by a heatwave in the last week, stoking demand for water, while well-below-average rainfall levels in March and April left some reservoirs under pressure, according to the Environment Agency.
Anger has built in recent years over the lack of investment in networks by privatised water companies, which has led to regular sewage spills.
In Whitstable, many businesses were forced to close during one of the busiest weeks in the year, coinciding with a school holiday.
"If you can't wash your hands, you can't make food," dismayed cafe owner Mark Kidd said, noting that hotter parts of the world managed to maintain water supply.
Local resident George said he blamed local supplier South East Water, already under investigation by regulator Ofwat for outages in other parts of its network earlier this year.
"I don't want any of the water companies to start blaming either climate change or usage for their lack of investment," he said.
Record heat, dry spring
South East Water has apologised for the supply issues, saying exceptionally high temperatures had created very high demand. It said it was experiencing "low storage across our supply area" despite planning for the hotter temperatures.
The company, which supplies drinking water to around 2.3 million customers, said it had pumped 628 million litres on Wednesday - about 100 million above the seasonal average - reflecting the higher temperatures.
Britain, like France, recorded its hottest May day on record during the heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 34 degrees Celsius, according to the national weather service.
Experts say dry periods followed by short bursts of extreme heat are becoming more likely as global temperatures rise, making it harder for water companies to balance supply and demand.
Water minister Emma Hardy said on Friday water companies must prepare for more frequent periods of extreme heat.
Britain's independent Climate Change Committee has warned the country will face progressively hotter, drier summers and that adapting would require around £11 billion ($14.76 billion) a year in investment.
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