Hundreds of households in East Sussex were forced to celebrate Christmas Day without running water after a critical failure in the local supply network. The disruption, which began on the afternoon of 25 December 2025, left residents in parts of Hastings with little to no water pressure.
Cause and Immediate Response to the Crisis
The crisis was triggered by a combination of factors: a burst water main and critically low water levels at the Fairlight reservoir, compounded by a power outage at the Brede water supply works. Southern Water, the utility company responsible, swiftly established bottled water stations for affected residents in locations including the Pelham Place car park.
Areas bearing the postcodes TN34, TN35, TN37, and TN38 were impacted, with around 100 households reporting issues. Local Green Party councillor Jo Walker confirmed residents lost their supply at approximately 4pm on Christmas Day.
Community Spirit Amidst Festive Disruption
The outage caused significant hardship during the festive period. Councillor Walker reported that one resident had to resort to using blankets for warmth after their heating system failed, while another was compelled to visit a neighbour's home to access water.
However, the situation also sparked a strong community response. "There have been a lot of neighbourly niceties," Walker said, "people going around and making sure their neighbours are OK, delivering them bottles of water, to making sure that everyone’s actually got some water to drink."
Supply Restored with Apology and Warning
By Boxing Day, 26 December, Southern Water issued an update stating that the water supply should be "running as normal." The company formally apologised for the severe disruption over the Christmas break.
A spokesperson said: "Thank you for your patience and support, we’re very sorry this happened, especially over the Christmas break." They added that while the reservoir levels are "slowly improving," customers might temporarily notice a slight change in odour or discolouration in their tap water, which they described as a normal occurrence following such network interruptions.
The bottled water station has since been closed. Southern Water's investigation points to the interconnected issues of the burst main and depleted reservoir levels as the root cause of the Christmas Day outage.
