Water supplies have returned for most people after several villages were left without running water yesterday.

Residents in villages between Ashford and Maidstone - including Coxheath, Headcorn and Harrietsham – were affected.

The outage was due to a technical failure at a nearby water treatment works.

An important part of the filtration system broke, forcing the site to shut down.

South East Water engineers replaced the part but the back-up clean water tanks emptied while this work was in progress.

The company handed out bottled water in Mote Park, Maidstone and at Headcorn Aerodrome until 9pm last night.

The water shortage was reported at 11.53am yesterday, and an update this morning said the water supply should be back to normal for the majority of customers.

However, this may not include those on higher ground who are served by additional booster pumps.

The water company wrote on its website: "Please do not worry if your water is slightly brown or discoloured, this is normal when water supplies return and will clear if you slowly run your cold kitchen tap.

"Levels in our underground clean water storage tanks are very low so we are asking customers to use water wisely."