People in a village are having to find ways of living without water after a year of supply issues.

Four hundred homes in Loose were left without water for four days last week.

The shortage was due to a "booster issue" that meant South East Water (SEW) couldn't use its pumps.

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

Bottles were being handed out at stations in the Loose Parish Pavilion in Walnut Tree Lane and the YMCA in Melrose Close.

But this isn't the first time it has happened and people living in the village have had to find ways to live with it.

One business owner has been stockpiling bottles of water since July.

Sharon Hope is a self-employed hairdresser, who operates from her home in Loose.

“In the summer you would get some water one day and suddenly it would go again," she explained.

"I need to know that I have it to rinse off colours and bleach on my clients.

“The only other alternative is to cancel them, but then you aren’t earning any money.

“So it's a catch-22 – you either work around it or don't work."

The 54-year-old has a collection of 25 two litre bottles, which she keeps in her shed in case of emergencies.

She added: “It is a nightmare, because you are having to heat it up in kettles.

“You can’t keep to a normal time schedule, as you have to boil up water in-between clients.

“I’m just trying to be ahead of the game really.

“It’s fine, because I have literally got a 'shed load of water'."

Paul Ratcliffe and his family moved to Leonard Gould Way at the end of 2021.

“We have had problems with our water five times in the last year," he explained. "With young children in the house this is unacceptable.

“There is a booster opposite the fire station along Loose Road, and they have issues with it every two or three months.

"South East Water send an engineer out, water is down for two or three days and then it slowly returns.

"If that is the constant problem, then replace it."

Paul and his wife Vicky, as well as their daughters Sophia, 4, and Isabella, 8, all had to contend with last week's shortage.

He said: “Both girls had PE and when they came home they couldn’t clean themselves.

“We struggled to wash their school uniform, clean their teeth and even teach them how to use the toilet.

"It's ok coping with it as an adult, but trying to tell a four-year-old why they can’t flush is difficult."

A community group has been set up on Facebook called 'Loose Water', so that residents can keep track of the time and place where water is out.

So far it has nearly 300 members.

One of them is 67-year-old Val Allan, who lives along Walnut Tree Avenue.

She said: “I’ve lived in Loose for four decades, but only noticed this as an issue in the last five years.

“We had a really bad shortage during the summer, the ground was dry and pipes are so old they crack in the heat."

Val says the water company didn't notify residents soon enough that emergency stations were open.

She also adds that they were handing out packs of 24, 500ml bottles, instead of two litre ones – which is what they received last year.

“My toilet was dribbling with water, so I was flushing it every six to eight hours," she said.

"It wasn’t pleasant. As for washing...I used a wet wipe.

“My neighbours dropped off water to me last week. I can’t imagine what it was like for the more vulnerable.

"It’s just not good enough."

Nick Bell, South East Water’s incident manager, commented: “The water network in Loose is very complex.

“Once the tap water leaves the treatment works, it goes to underground storage reservoirs before going on to customers on demand.

“Some customers in the area are on higher ground, so we have to use pumps to get it to them.

“However, if the storage reservoir runs low, those pumps can’t operate, so some customers will have low pressure or intermittent supplies.

“The levels can reduce for many reasons, including high demand in hot weather, sudden burst pipes or other factors.

“In this instance, bad weather affected our water treatment works at Forstal and combined with our treatment works at Boxley being out of service for essential maintenance, the reservoir which serves Loose ran low for periods.

“We are doing everything we can to get extra treated water into the storage reservoir, including re-routing water from other areas. However, it does take time for levels to return to normal.

“We know how frustrating this is for customers and we are working on long-term solutions.”

Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and The Weald, addressed parliament on her concerns at Westminster Hall last Tuesday (January 17).

She told KentOnline: "South East Water’s (SEW) failings came to light in full technicolour during the run up to Christmas, with thousands of homes and businesses completely losing their water supplies for several days. Now, customers in Loose are also facing issues.

'There are serious questions that need to be answered and lessons learned...'

"I’m afraid that is just not good enough in 21st century Britain and SEW need to up their game or be removed to make way for a better operator.

"I am certainly driving for compensation for the financial losses suffered by many."

The MP will be holding a meeting with the CEO of South East Water, David Hinton, on Tuesday, February 7.

She added: “There are serious questions that need to be answered and lessons learned.

"We need to know what SEW’s plan of action is moving forward to avoid a repetition.

"The issue of compensation for those who have suffered financial loss must also be addressed.”