South East Water confirmed on January 10 that tens of thousands of homes had been left with little or no running water.
South East Water said the issues resulted from the recent Storm Goretti and were exacerbated by burst water mains on its network.
The issues are expected to continue into the week.
East Grinstead was at the epicentre of the crisis on Saturday, though the water supply issues have spread to Uckfield and down to Eastbourne, also hitting villages such as Ashurst Wood and Lower Dicker.
South East Water established two water stations in East Grinstead town centre on Saturday – at Sainsbury’s on Brooklands Way, and Queensway Car Park, on Queen’s Road.
However, the location of these water stations was heavily criticised – particularly the Sainsbury’s site, which was located near East Grinstead train station.
The combination of the rail replacement buses and thousands of people attempting to access the water station brought the town centre to a standstill.
Mims Davies, MP for East Grinstead and Uckfield, described the situation as ‘bedlam’, calling it a “worst case scenario”, and “awful.”
The company later apologised for the “inconvenience caused” by its town centre water station.
It announced on Sunday morning that the water station would be moved to East Grinstead Sports Club.
This new water station was due to open at 9am, but was beset by problems of its own, with people queueing up only to be told there was no water at the site.
Councillor Jacquie Russell said that the lorry that was supposed to be delivering water to the sports club “couldn’t get through.”
Mims Davies MP later said that “a third party let South East Water down.”
Unfortunately, she said, “nobody was told” about this, meaning that “everybody had those wasted journeys.”
“People at the sports club were rightly very upset,” she added.
The issue was eventually resolved, and the sports club water station got up and running around midday, though long queues still formed at the site.
Ms Davies said on Sunday afternoon that she expected the supply issues to continue for “another day or two.”
The MP said: “There’s many questions about what this is going to mean for business and schools tomorrow.
“This is going to affect the area for another one or two days.
“We’re going to have to look at what an earth’s happened, and hold people to account, and see what could have been done better.
“It’s extremely frustrating and very concerning.”
Josh Babarinde, MP for Eastbourne, also expressed concerns over the way the situation has been handled.
Mr Babarinde said: “Honestly, this isn’t good enough – and the provision of information has been poor.
“Water companies have spent years dining out on big bonuses and salaries while failing to invest in the infrastructure upgrades needed to help avoid situations like this.”
Despite considerable supply issues in Eastbourne and Pevensey, South East Water have not yet signalled any intention to set up water stations outside of East Grinstead.
The shortages are also having a significant impact across the border into Kent, with Tunbridge Wells and Headcorn hit especially hard.
Mary Creagh, a minister from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, said she was “very concerned” with the situation, which she labelled “entirely unacceptable.”
South East Water incident manager, Steve Andrews, said: “We’re sorry to customers who are experiencing either no water or low pressure.
“Storm Goretti has affected our ability to treat the raw water at the normal rate at our main Sussex water treatment works.
“Coupled with the outbreak of burst water mains on our network due to the freeze/thaw conditions being experienced across Sussex, our drinking water storage levels in the East Grinstead area have now been exhausted.
“We are working to restore supplies as quickly as possible.”
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