Thousands of people are still waiting for their water supply to return.

Some 31,000 people in St Leonards and the Hastings area have been without water since Thursday after a burst main in Keeper’s Wood.

Yesterday, Southern Water said the repair to the burst pipe had been completed but that restoring supplies would “take time”.

In an update at 10pm last night, the water company said: “To all our customers in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings and in Westfield we are so sorry you are still without water tonight.

“The team are working hard to restart service. Once the water has passed stringent quality tests, supplies will start to return for customers.

“We’re hopeful that water supply could start to return gradually over the course of Sunday with different areas getting water at different times. We will provide further updates on our website and social media from tomorrow morning.

“We will continue to deliver bottled water throughout Sunday to customers on our Priority Services Register.”

Another update at 9.30 this morning said: "Following the repair of the burst main our teams have been working hard to get our treatment works at Beauport up and running, which it is now, but it will take some time for water supply to return."

Water bottle stations are open at the Tesco and Asda in St Leonards, as well as one in Sea Road, Hastings and another at Hastings Academy.

“The bottled water stations are often busiest first thing so we would encourage customers to consider coming later in the day if possible,” said Southern Water.

“We’re sorry for the continued impact this is having and are doing everything we can to restore supplies.”

Some residents had trouble getting to water stations yesterday due to traffic and deliveries to replenish water stations experienced delays.

Schools, a leisure centre and a theatre in the area have been forced to close.

One hotel in Hastings has resorted to flushing toilets with sea water, East Sussex County Councillor Godfrey Daniel has said.

And this weekend is the annual four-day Jack In The Green Festival in Hastings and the May Day Bike Run, both of which see an estimated 40,000 visitors flock to the area, the councillor added.

Jon Smalldon, 46, who has lived in Hastings for ten years, said his family has 24 two-litre bottles of water which they are having to ration.

He told the PA news agency: “We have a couple of dogs and a cat as well so they’re now included in the rationing.

“It’s not great, it’s not ideal at all but it’s not disastrous for us.”

He added: “Across the town there’s frustration that this has happened, it’s not the first time Southern Water has caused problems for Hastings and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

“We all just want it to end and we want to know when the pipe will be fixed and when it’s going to be back to normal.”