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A utility company says it has "learnt lessons" after photos of people crowding to collect an emergency supply of water sparked concerns over social distancing.
South East Water dispatched a delivery of bottles to Herne Bay on Sunday, after families were left without a running supply for more than 24 hours when several pipes burst in quick succession.
But after widespread concerns that social distancing measures were being flouted, the company says it is "reviewing" its procedures for during the pandemic.
More than 3,000 households had their supply turned off following the series of problems, which began when a mains pipe burst in Reculver Road on Saturday.
South East Water managed to fix the problem, but two further bursts soon happened along the same stretch of pipe in Beltinge.
Almost 100 families contacted South East Water to report they had either no water or low pressure.
But in order to undertake repairs, the firm had to temporarily turn off the water supply to a further 3,300 households in the area.
Jim Macintyre, head of leakage operations at South East Water, said on Monday: “We had a bottled water station up and running in the car park of the Rising Sun Public House where, once the water was unloaded, we instigated our Covid-19 emergency procedure with a queuing system.”
But photographs showing people standing in close proximity to one another while collecting bottled water prompted concern from Herne Bay residents.
Commenting on Facebook, Carrianne Scott Standen wrote: "They would have been safer to go to a supermarket to buy water rather than gathering like this."
Hazel Brown wrote: "Why are people so close together, do they want to catch this terrible virus?" While Christine Barber added: "What is going on? Can’t understand why they are all huddled together!"
South East Water now says it is planning to rethink its procedures.
“As this was the first major burst water pipe involving a large number of our customers since social distancing began, we have learnt lessons and will be reviewing the plan in case we need to mobilise it again,” said Mr Macintyre.
“Once again I am sorry to our customers who were affected by these burst water pipes and I would like to thank everyone for their patience while we worked tirelessly for 48 hours to solve the issues.”
Many residents took to social media to thank the technicians who worked day and night to get the water flowing again.
John Harper was among them, writing: “All the South East Water team have worked incredibly hard and still managed a smile while handing out bottled water. Well done all.”
