Two schools have been forced to shut, with residents being supplied with bottles due to a water shortage.

Homes and businesses in Loose have no water following a "booster issue" which means South East Water cannot use its pumps.

The company issued a statement on its website explaining the problem.

"Due to ongoing issues at our boosters we are unable to pump the water," it stated.

"As a result customers may experience intermittent no water or low water pressure whilst these works are being carried out.

"We have an incident team in place and our technical crews have been working around the clock to find solutions including re-routing water from other parts of the network.

"We will also be tankering water into the area to try to refill the network faster.

"Due to the complexity of the network and the need to refill pipes slowly to prevent bursts, customers on higher ground will have intermittent water supply until the issues are fully resolved.

"We are unable to say at this stage how long this will take, but please be assured our teams are working hard to restore supplies as quickly as possible."

There are bottled water stations being set up at the Loose Parish Pavilion in Walnut Tree Lane and the YMCA in Melrose Close.

Two schools in the area have been forced to close, with students being sent home to complete work online.

Sharry Mackie, headteacher at New Line Learning Academy, said: "It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that we will have to close the academy today.

'Customers may experience intermittent no water or low water pressure whilst these works are being carried out...'

"South East Water are currently unable to provide mains water to the academy.

"This is currently causing issues with the flow of water to toilets and taps.

"South East Water are unable to inform us if the issue will rectified today so we are unable to safely open the academy."

She added: "We recognise that this closure will cause you a level of inconvenience for which we are deeply sorry, but unfortunately without access to water the school cannot open."

The Year 10 parents evening that was due to take place tonight has also been postponed.

Five Acre Wood School in Boughton Lane has also shut.

A statement on its Facebook page said: "Unfortunately the Loose site will be closed today as there is no water and without mains water, we cannot operate safely.

"We have made the difficult decision to close the school for today as there is no guarantee when it will be operational again."

It went onto say that parents, carers and staff will be notified by 5pm with a decision on whether they will be reopening tomorrow.

Nick Bell, incident manager for South East Water, commented: “We are extremely sorry to customers in Loose who are without water or have low pressure.

“Following recent heavy rain we have had technical problems at our water treatment site in Forstal.

"As a result, we have low levels in our underground storage reservoirs. This in turn means we are unable to pump treated water to customers on higher ground. We estimate approximately 400 properties have been affected.

“We anticipate customers on higher ground in Loose will continue to have intermittent water supplies throughout today and into tomorrow as we work to resolve the issues."