Reporter shares experiences of living without water as supply crisis hits Kent
A reporter found herself reporting on a story she also was living through as thousands of people in Kent were left without water multiple times for over a week.
Mary Harris, a reporter at KentLive, shared her experiences in a first-person article on the website.
Householders have reported strip washes, trying to flush toilets with buckets of water from neighbours’ water butts, dirty clothes and bedding going unwashed as some are in to their sixth day without water.
Some people reported using melted snow to flush their toilets.
Long queues formed for bottled water too, with no guarantee from South East Water that it would return in time for Christmas. The company blamed a surge in leaks at a local reservoir which meant that the reservoir was draining faster than they were able to refill it from alternative sources.
In an article for KentLive, Mary said she knew there were people in a far worse position than she was.
“We haven’t got children (I have seen the problems parents have been having with poorly children and trying to flush away their vomit and keep their bedclothes clean), and there is only us two to worry about. If we had a house full of teenagers, it might have been stressful,” Mary wrote.
“But we have been strip washing, standing on a towel or in the bath, using a saucepan of water with a soap and flannel. My husband, Murat, as an electrician, can get covered in dust, so wiping his head and face with wash wipes as soon as he steps in the door has been a fun evening ritual.
“The main problem behind the crisis, we have been told, has been leaks caused by icy weather and a storage tank dipping below 20 per cent full.
“When we do get water flow, I fill the kettle, our filter water jug, and any other receptacle. But I don’t go mad, other people need water too.
“Flushing the loo has been a worry when it really counts — if you know what I mean — but the waste water from our humidifier has been excellent to send it down and away. I have also been eyeing up my mop bucket in the garden, which is full to the brim with rain water.
“I do worry about older isolated people who might not know about water stations or have people to keep an eye on them. And others are in difficult situations. I saw a post from a lady, a live-in carer, in Tunbridge Wells, who didn’t drive and she was worried about getting water supplies. People such as us could go and buy water if we had to. It’s always the vulnerable who are hit worst.”
Read Mary’s full article here.
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