The water outage has been affecting restaurants, schools, GP surgeries and care homes
A Tunbridge Wells restaurant has criticised South East Water after a major water outage triggered a wave of booking cancellations.
Raj Pavillion was forced to close from Sunday (November 30) until Wednesday (December 3) after many businesses, schools, care homes and local residents were left without any running water.
The issue was caused by chemicals used to improve water quality, leading Pembury’s treatment works site to shut down on Saturday (November 29).
But the manager at the Indian restaurant Asjad Chowdury said SEW ‘let them down’ for the second time in the last three years.
He told KentLive: “December month is Christmas time, so we’re all catering, especially Indian restaurants. We always depend on this month, so it’s a very peak time for us.
“But unfortunately, South East Water really let us down. This is the second time in the last three years. They let us down badly and this experience is very terrible.
“It’s affecting the coming days, weekends as well. This Friday and Saturday, we had lots of booking and the majority of bookings are getting cancelled to the ‘boiling water issue.
“I feel like South East Water is making customers confused. They are not sure they are safe to go out and eat the food.”
A notice to boil water before drinking, washing up, preparing food or brushing teeth is expected to remain in place until at least December 13. Due to this notice, Asjad said he was forced to throw away a lot of food because of the cancellations.
The 37-year-old added: “I have to cook everything fresh. I have to buy a lot of water. So some of the customers are understanding, and some of them don’t want to take a risk.
‘Fighting to survive’
“So far no hope, and nothing from South East Water and the council as well. So we are now more or less fighting to survive. It’s going to be very difficult for small businesses like us. We are serving the community since 1998.
“We are clueless and we can only hope for the best.”
Mike Martin MP, Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, has written to the Water Minister calling for Covid-style business continuity and recovery support for local businesses who suffered through the water outage crisis.
The letter reads: “I am asking you, on behalf of businesses in Tunbridge Wells, to support our request for up to £18.5m to be immiediately released to, and administered by, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in order to support business continuity and recovery.
“This is the third time in three years that businesses have been impacted by extreme water outages caused by South East Water. Two of those incidents have been in the run-up to Christmas and both those events have had a duration of (a minimum of) six days. As you know the current crisis is still ongoing.
“Christmas is a crucial time for local businesses. Businesses (and TWBC) invest heavily in this period and for many, it represents a significant proportion of their turnover. For some, it makes the difference between survival and going udner in the fallow months after the new year.”
KentLive has approached South East Water for a comment. In a recent update shared on Friday (December 5), SEW said: “We are sorry to customers who continue to be affected by no water or low pressure.
“Pembury Water Treatment Works continued to run well overnight, returning water to almost all 24,000 affected properties in Tunbridge Wells.
“Customers who live on the highest ground in Tunbridge Wells may still be experiencing low pressures or intermittent supply whilst we remove the final airlocks from the network.”
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