The water company said it would now undertake a full review of “what happened and how we responded”
South East Water has lifted its instruction to boil tap water before use for 24,000 households and businesses in Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas. The under-fire water company said it would now undertake a full review of “what happened and how we responded”.
It said it would “put actions in place” to prevent a similar issue and increase its resilience. It also said it would be compensating customers and would “do everything we can” to rebuild the trust of the communities it served.
South East Water (SEW) said tap water could be used for everything, including for drinking, with immediate effect. The company said the announcement came after it made changes to the treatment process, flushed its network and took samples from across the area and at Pembury Water Treatment Works.
And the water company has given a smidgen of greater insight into what took the 14 days to restore supply. It has also said water sampling during the crisis detected no bacteria and boiling had been a precaution.
KentLive had earlier today asked SEW the questions residents wanted answered. Water supply director Douglas Whitfield said: “Tap water in Tunbridge Wells is safe to drink and be used for carrying out everyday tasks without being boiled.
“Our customers in Tunbridge Wells have had a very difficult and frustrating time since the end of November. We are very sorry for what has happened.
“Before tap water leaves any of our water treatment works, it goes through extensive testing. If it is not up to strict regulatory standards the water treatment works shuts down automatically.
“This is what happened on Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30, at our facility in Pembury. For reasons we are continuing to investigate, the natural make-up of the water we abstract from the wells and springs around Pembury changed suddenly.
“It is very unusual for this to happen. It meant the way in which the raw water needed to be treated had to change and we tested a variety of solutions, whilst consulting industry experts.
“On Wednesday, December 3, we took the decision to restart Pembury Water Treatment Works and pump water to customers, with the instruction to boil it before drinking, preparing food, or washing dishes. This decision was made so customers could flush toilets and carry out other day-to-day tasks.
“The water was chemically safe and all water sampling to date has shown no bacteria has been detected in this area. The boil water notice has been in place as a precaution because it had not met the very strict regulatory requirements in the final treatment process.”
As we reported yesterday, SEW is being investigated by the DWI for the crisis. The public water regulator said it would scrutinise SEW’s actions before, during and after the event.
And the under-fire company will also be called to give answers to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee at a public evidence session on January 6. The committee will grill the water company about “planning, resilience, capacity and communications”.
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