00:00The ongoing water crisis across the county is of course affecting many areas of people's lives.
00:06But it's not only people who are being affected, but livestock as well, which can't rely on bottled water.
00:13Due to last year's dry summer, the Hoorlands Farm installed rainwater tanks to build supply for the animals.
00:19So we've got cattle, sheep and horses on the farm and obviously the cattle are in sheds for the winter,
00:26horses are in overnight and the sheep are out in the fields, but we need more water in the winter than we would do in the summer.
00:32And we've been off yesterday.
00:34They were saying that we were back on when we weren't.
00:36We just had zero since it was 8.30 the evening before yesterday.
00:41It went off and it's not been back on.
00:43So, yeah, I mean, we thought they might put some provision in for livestock.
00:47They haven't done anything and obviously you can't really water livestock with two litre bottles.
00:52So if we didn't have these tanks, we'd be really worried. Yeah.
00:55So we've connected this up to our rainwater harvesting, comes up the pipe here and floats in there.
01:00So these guys are on rainwater today.
01:03At the Hoorlands Farm, the cows were able to get their supply of water through the use of rainfall collecting tanks.
01:09But for calves, it's different as those systems just do not work.
01:12So the milk machine relies on a high pressure to effectively run.
01:18And therefore, without the high pressure, the machine won't work and therefore won't supply milk to the calves.
01:25I asked for our line to be a high welfare line.
01:28That didn't come to fruition.
01:30And therefore, you know, we've been having to make up milk.
01:33They've turned it on for an hour at a time to help.
01:37But it hasn't really helped because they need it.
01:40They need it 24-7, you know.
01:42They said they were going to come up and supply tankers and inject it into our line.
01:47But again, they said they're too busy and haven't got enough tankers.
01:51Since I left the farm in Tunbridge Wells, Nick called me to say that one of the calves has died from dehydration,
01:57with others being checked over throughout the evening.
02:00Southeast Water have said that we are very sorry to all our customers who've been affected.
02:05We know and understand how difficult going without water for such a long period of time is,
02:10and how difficult it makes everyday life.
02:13We are continuing to use 26 tankers to pump water directly into our network
02:18to increase the amount of water available in the affected areas.
02:22And our leak repair teams are working around the clock to fix the leaks and bursts across Kent and Sussex,
02:28with extra resources available to help carry out repairs.
02:32As the water begins to trickle back in across the county,
02:35many are left asking why this happened,
02:38and whether lessons will be learnt to prevent it happening again.
02:42Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV.
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