Thousands of households across Kent are facing a renewed water supply crisis, with many still without reliable access days after the latest series of failures by utility company South East Water.
Latest Incidents Leave Homes Dry
The water supply for more than 5,500 properties was disrupted on Sunday evening. The problems stemmed from a combination of a fault at a treatment works, a power outage, and two separate burst mains. This is just the latest in a string of failures that have plagued the company's network in recent months.
On Saturday, a fault at a treatment works left 4,500 homes in villages outside Maidstone with no water or low pressure. South East Water stated this issue was fixed by Sunday night, with normal service expected overnight. However, another 800 homes in Linton, near Maidstone, experienced similar problems due to a burst main, with repairs also scheduled overnight.
In Bidborough, 320 homes were still dealing with a disrupted supply five days after South East Water first reported a power outage. Furthermore, another burst main reported on Sunday evening left an unconfirmed number of properties between Maidstone and Ashford with no water or low pressure.
A Pattern of Failure and Mounting Scrutiny
This recent wave of outages follows a major incident declared earlier in the week, which left 30,000 homes in Kent and Sussex without water for days. The company has faced intense criticism after a similar pre-Christmas outage left 24,000 people in Tunbridge Wells without drinking water for a staggering two weeks.
It was revealed this week that the regulator, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), had warned of the November treatment centre failure weeks before it happened. Chief inspector Marcus Rink told MPs the problem began on 9 November with a "noticeable deterioration" at the plant, and that the company had failed to conduct proper testing.
In response, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds has called on water regulator Ofwat to review South East Water's licence to operate. Ofwat has now launched a formal investigation into whether the company "complied with its obligation to provide high standards of customer service and support for its customers."
Executive Pay and Public Anger
Public and political anger is being directed at South East Water's leadership. Chief Executive David Hinton, who earned £457,000 in the year to June 2025, is facing calls to resign and to refuse his bonus for this financial year. Despite the company's performance, Hinton remains in line for a £400,000 long-term bonus if he stays in his role until 2030.
On the ground, the company's incident manager, Matthew Dean, apologised to customers. "We’re sorry to customers currently impacted by the water supply interruptions across our network in Kent," he said. Dean explained that tankers are being used to inject water into storage tanks to balance the network and that leak repair teams are working around the clock across Kent and Sussex.
To cope with the ongoing crisis, South East Water has been arranging bottled water stations in key locations including Maidstone, Ashford, and Tunbridge Wells, where officials were photographed distributing supplies to affected residents.
