The chief executive of a major water company has awarded his firm a score of eight out of ten for its handling of a recent crisis, despite thousands of residents being left without drinking water for a fortnight.
Two-Week Crisis Leaves Residents Scrambling
Dave Hinton, the £400,000-a-year CEO of South East Water (SEW), offered the positive assessment while being grilled by MPs on Tuesday. This came despite widespread calls for his resignation following a chaotic supply failure in Kent.
The incident began at the end of November when a 'water quality issue' at the Pembury Water Treatment Works triggered a complete shutdown. Around 24,000 homes and businesses in and around Tunbridge Wells were impacted.
While supply returned after the initial shutdown, the water was not safe to drink. Residents could only use it for flushing toilets and showering, and were forced to operate under a 'boil water notice' for days. This restrictive notice was finally lifted on 12 December, two weeks after the problems began.
MPs Grill Boss Over 'Biggest Failure'
Appearing before the House of Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Mr Hinton stated he was 'deeply sorry' for the severe disruption. He was questioned intensely by committee chair Alistair Carmichael, a Liberal Democrat MP.
Pressed to give his company a mark out of ten for its crisis management, Hinton initially hesitated, calling it hard to quantify. He argued the response was the 'biggest' and 'largest ever' mounted by the company in terms of resources deployed.
When Mr Carmichael asked if this was SEW's 'biggest failure', Hinton replied that in terms of customer impact, it was not the largest event in the past five years. However, he conceded there were 'definitely lessons to be learned on the water quality side'.
Self-Assessment and Bonus Scrutiny
After being urged repeatedly for a score, the water boss eventually provided a three-part rating. He gave an eight out of ten for the operational response, a six out of ten for communication with customers, and another six for preventing the incident in the first place.
A visibly sceptical Mr Carmichael retorted: 'How bad would it have to be for you to give yourself a failure?'
The session also revealed that Mr Hinton received a £115,000 bonus on top of his £400,000 basic salary last year. When questioned, he said it was 'not for me to decide' if he would receive a similar bonus this year.
During his testimony, Hinton pointed to several factors he believed contributed to supply issues in the region:
- A post-Covid increase in people working from home in the commuter-heavy region.
- Demand pressures from new housing developments.
- The impact of climate change and 'extreme weather events' between 2021 and 2025.
He concluded that these combined pressures had 'stretched the resilience' of the local water network.
