The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told South East Water (SEW) to improve after thousands of customers faced supply issues once again. A Defra spokesperson said the situation was “simply not good enough”.
Latest disruption in Kent
SEW has warned customers in Kent that water levels in its drinking storage tanks remain “critically low”. Supply had been restored to 7,400 properties in Herne Bay, Rough Common and Blean by Tuesday morning, but 400 homes were still facing low pressure or no water.
Mike Court, South East Water incident manager, said: “Drinking water supplies have been restored to the 7,400 properties in the Herne Bay, Rough Common and Blean areas of Kent which were experiencing no water or intermittent supplies yesterday.”
Continued pressure on storage tanks
Court added: “However, properties in Herne Bay may experience intermittent supplies later today due to high demand for drinking water in the area as the storage tank which supplies the area remains at a critical level.”
“Approximately 400 properties in the Benenden, Cranbrook and Rolvenden areas of Kent are continuing to experience low pressure or no water this morning. Water levels within our drinking water storage tank which supplies the area remains critically low. We’re therefore urging all customers to continue using water for essential uses only today (Tuesday).”
Political and regulatory response
Weald of Kent MP Katie Lam, whose constituency includes areas still impacted, said outages have become “depressingly common”. She said: “Once again people in the Weald of Kent are having to deal with their taps running dry. Outages have become depressingly common, with people now facing water failures every few months. This is simply not good enough.”
The Defra spokesperson said: “South East Water needs to go further and faster to reduce leaks and follow their drought plans to ensure supplies are not disrupted in even the driest of weather. Their new leadership must now deliver a step change in performance, where customers’ needs are prioritised and there is a stop to supply outages.”
In July, SEW was ordered to pay £30.5 million after investigations by industry watchdog Ofwat following previous supply interruptions affecting hundreds of thousands of households across Kent and Sussex. Ofwat said the redress package concluded three investigations into the supplier and includes a previously proposed £22 million fine for water supply failures between 2020 and 2023, which impacted more than 286,000 people.
The regulator launched a second probe at the start of this year after more supply interruptions in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent and Sussex between November and January, which left up to 70,000 homes without water.
“After years of failure, we have taken swift action to hold water companies to account,” the Defra spokesperson added. “We have banned unfair water boss bonuses and will establish a new, single regulator with greater powers to drive transparency, helping to rebuild customer trust and protect the environment.”
SEW said on Tuesday bottled water stations, including at the Weald Sports Centre in Cranbrook and Sturry Road Park and Ride in Canterbury, would be open until 10pm for customers affected by the latest incident. A spokesperson said staff and contractors had been subject to abuse in recent days.
“Whilst we understand the frustrations due to the current disruption, our team is working to restore supplies and deliver water to customers,” the spokesperson said. “We do not tolerate any abuse towards our staff and the safety of our staff and contractors is paramount.”
