Thousands of homes in Kent were left without running water for most of last week, during the hottest period of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 32°C. Vulnerable and elderly residents were forced to queue at water stations in the searing heat to collect bottled water, while those on priority lists did not receive promised deliveries and relied on friends and family.
The outage, which began on bank holiday Monday, affected basic needs such as drinking, flushing toilets, washing hands, and bathing. In Whitstable, cafes, pubs, oyster bars, and leisure centres were forced to close, causing thousands of pounds in losses to the local economy. South East Water attributed the disruption to a defective pump at Charing and a spike in demand, but residents expressed frustration at the company's response.
This is not the first such incident; in January, a similar outage occurred in Tunbridge Wells for several weeks due to an issue at Pembury treatment works. Critics argue that South East Water has consistently failed to repair crumbling infrastructure while diverting funds into executive pay. Customers in Kent pay some of the highest water bills in the country, yet receive poor service.
Yvonne Singh, a resident of Faversham, wrote to the Guardian calling on the government to hold South East Water to account, describing the company as 'profiteering' and noting that 'the temperature is rising' in Kent.
