00:00A beautiful day by the sea and not a drop to drink as Whitstable becomes the
00:06latest region in Kent to be plunged into water outages. According to South East
00:12Water 8,000 residents in the town are without water to drink, wash or flush
00:18toilets with and although tourists might have had their day out by the sea ruined
00:24it's the business owners who worry they might struggle to stay afloat.
00:30Nobody can use the loo, can get water, all the hospitality, pubs, restaurants have all
00:38let to close and we don't know when they're going to reopen and that is a big, big
00:43worry because obviously it's people's livelihoods. Hospitality venues in particular
00:49unable to serve water, maintain hygiene or wash dishes were forced to close.
00:55On a busy bank holiday weekend on school holiday for the kids we'll be looking to earn somewhere
01:02between £700 and £1,000 so it's quite a dent in the finances.
01:09Hot weather and the half-term holidays are normally very profitable times for businesses particularly
01:14hospitality venues in a tourist town like Whitstable but rather they've been able to enjoy serving
01:20customers on a busy day businesses are left wondering when will they be able to reopen.
01:26It's got a domino effect on all the suppliers you know should we get our weekend produce in some
01:30people would already have that in the door I know we have we've just had a cheese supply
01:34come in from Italy which is not something you can stop it's pre-ordered a week in advance
01:39and it's just the unknown. It's choppy waters for traders in Whitstable but they aren't alone.
01:47South East Water confirmed that their supplies have filled 14,000 customers across Kent including
01:53Herne Bay and Ashford and its surrounding areas. For those in Whitstable they explained that they are
01:59without supply because the storage reservoirs which serve the area have reached a critical level.
02:05parts of Whitstable will see supplies returning later today and this will continue through to
02:10tomorrow morning. Tap water is likely to remain intermittent across the weekend. Hospitality
02:17venues in seaside towns like Whitstable rely on busy summers to help keep them going in the winter
02:23but now even summer seasons seem far from plain sailing. Megan Shaw for Kane TV in Whitstable.
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