Thousands of residents in Kent are without water supply after South East Water confirmed its storage reservoirs had reached a critical level amid hot weather. The utility company said 8,000 customers are affected, with queues forming at a bottled water collection point at a Sainsbury's near Whitstable.
South East Water had previously urged customers to restrict water usage to essential purposes following persistent supply issues that began over the bank holiday weekend. Incident manager Steve Benton said tap water supply is expected to resume in Whitstable later on Thursday but may remain intermittent over the weekend.
Benton confirmed that 7,000 customers are experiencing low pressure or intermittent supply in Tankerton, Ashford, and surrounding areas, with another 7,000 at risk of supply loss. He apologised and said the company is doing everything possible to restore levels, having pumped 628 million litres on Wednesday and over 100 million litres more than the May daily average over the weekend.
Kent County Council announced plans to increase scrutiny of water supply and infrastructure, forming the Kent Water Resilience Partnership chaired by council leader Linden Kemkaran. She said residents are fed up with being left without water and that the partnership will provide clear oversight of how issues are being addressed.
The crisis follows a scathing MP report that led to the resignation of South East Water's chairman Chris Train and the announcement of chief executive David Hinton's departure. Green councillor Stuart Heaver called the situation 'unbelievable' and demanded answers on whether the water supply is fit for purpose.
