FOLLY Hill residents were left without water every evening for around 11 days due to a lack in water pressure and increase in demand during the heatwave.

Residents had “no water to flush the loo, none to bathe or shower in”, with Rod MacKenzie’s wife having to go “to Farnham gym to use their facilities”.

He said: “It is all blamed on the customers who are implored to use less water. That is fine and education plays a part. However, it is obvious South East Water (SEW) lacks the capability in its infrastructure to push water around its pipes at sufficient pressure.”

Following a visit from a SEW field representative, Mr MacKenzie was told that “SEW had bigger issues to deal with as a result of big problems caused by the weather change from cold to hot”.

Another resident, Steve Attwood, described the outage as “like a third world country”.

SEW’s head of operations, Steve Benton, said the shortage was “due to a significant increase in water demand at peak periods”.

He said: “We would like to apologise to the customers who have been experiencing no water or low pressure during this hot weather. Our water technicians have been working hard to alter our network in the affected area to improve the service to these customers. Our company has seen a 30 per cent increase in water use since the heatwave began and has been producing an extra 100 million litres a day - equivalent to 25 Olympic size swimming pools.”

An ongoing programme means SEW is set to install an 842-metre pipeline along Upper Hale Road. Keep an eye on your area using the group’s online map, at tinyurl.com/y7urafce.