Nearly two dozen horses are facing death by dehydration as a mass water outage enters its sixth day.
The 20 thoroughbreds at a stable in Hadlow Down, Uckfield, require 1,000 litres of water each day but with supplies cut off at the source, their lives are at risk.
The stable owner, who asked to remain anonymous, has been running to her farm with buckets of water from a nearby location where water is available.
Residents without water in the area are furious with South East Water as their supplies have been cut off for nearly a week.
Wealden district councillor Michael Lunn, who represents the area, said the death risk facing the horses was the final straw.
“It’s causing a huge amount of stress among the horses,” he said.
“The owner is also really stressed out, worried and concerned. She has been carrying buckets of water to the herd but she is now totally exhausted.
“Forty times she has phoned South East water and they are not helping her.”
Cllr Lunn said the driver of a South East Water tanker refused to deposit water at the stables despite taking water to an animal sanctuary just a few hundred metres down the road.
“She phoned the water company and they said that the tanker was not going to bring water to her farm. They said her farm wasn’t on the list,” said the councillor.
The Argus contacted South East Water but did not receive a response, however the company previously said the outage is due to a lack of rainfall since the end of April.
READ MORE: Wealden District Council seeking urgent meeting with South East Water
But as taps continue to run dry for residents in Wadhurst, Mayfield, Crowborough and Rotherfield, Wealden District Council leader James Partridge is now demanding an urgent meeting with the water company’s chief executive David Hinton.
A spokesman for the district council said: “The leader and deputy leader are seeking an urgent meeting with the CEO of South East Water to discuss this situation and raise the concerns of local residents directly with South East Water.”
The company has issued a plea asking those who still have water to use it only when necessary.
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