Residents in Kent have expressed anger and frustration after a water outage affected thousands of homes during a heatwave. South East Water, a private company, blamed increased demand for the disruption, but customers criticised its response and lack of investment in infrastructure.
On Wednesday, 8,000 customers in Whitstable lost water, while 14,000 more in Tankerton, Ashford and surrounding areas faced intermittent supply or low pressure. Matthew Dean, the company's incident manager, said on Thursday that 22,000 people had been affected. The company asked customers to use water only for essential purposes.
Pat Prestage, 67, who lives with a disability, said she felt “spitting, fuming, angry and powerless” after her supply went off at 6.30pm on Wednesday. Her husband Martin could not get through to the emergency line and spent over an hour queuing for water on Thursday. The couple criticised the company for co-opting the “blitz spirit” in asking those with water to reduce usage. “They’re a private company, run for profit!” Pat said. “Some of the money we’re paying, they’re pocketing, and it’s not going into the reservoir we’ve needed for 40 years.”
At a water collection point between Whitstable and Herne Bay, hundreds of cars queued in 27°C heat. Kayce Snellgrove, 90, said she had not received any water delivery despite being on a priority list, and had been without water since Wednesday evening. “Absolutely disgusting, it is,” she said. “I live alone, I’m 90 years old, and I’m cut off again.”
MPs had accused South East Water’s senior executives of incompetence earlier this month over repeated outages, leading to the resignation of the company’s chair and chief executive. The government aims to cut water use in England by 20% per person per day by 2038, with a target of 110 litres per person per day by 2050. Current average use is 142-150 litres per person per day, one of the highest in Europe.
In a statement, South East Water said it was doing everything possible to restore supplies, but some customers would continue to experience intermittent supply until reservoir levels were restored. It apologised to customers, especially given the hot weather.
