South East Water says household supplies restored to 24,000 homes

The boil water notice came into effect on Wednesday and will be in place for a minimum of 10 days, with instructions to boil, then cool,, external tap water before drinking, cleaning teeth, cooking, washing dishes and cleaning kitchen surfaces.

Haike Tzianetasm, who lives on Tunnel Road and works for a special needs school in Tunbridge Wells, said they had spent the whole weekend “getting on top of” the washing up and laundry.

She said: “It’s taking so much longer as I have to boil the water to do the dishes in.

“It’s very stressful for children with needs as they like a routine but may not understand that they cannot drink the water.

“It’s been disrupting for everyone in the town.”