‘Tunbridge Wells is not just disgusted. It is livid. The government must step in now’
The latest water shortage issues have resulted in residents flushing toilets with rainwater, flocking to water stations and hurriedly showering if water returns(Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
“Livid” water shortage customers in Tunbridge Wells are calling for Government intervention and an urgent crisis meeting as situation is escalated to a “major incident”. Today’s announcement (Monday, January 12) by Kent County Council comes after more households have been hit by no water or low water in the past 24 hours.
The continuing supply problems have been branded a “fiasco” by resident Jonathan Hawker. He is driving a fight back from residents, with a series of demands, including an emergency action plan now by the Government to “address this crisis in the short term”.
This comes after 24,000 households in Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas were without water for two weeks before Christmas. And again last week, around 6,500 customers in Tunbridge Wells, Frant and Bidborough had water outage, which was put down to the bursting of water pipes during icy weather.
The weekend has brought further issues, with no supply or on-off water from the taps. And added to the list of places hit by water problems are Canterbury, Maidstone and Hollingbourne. Some schools are shut today because of the situation, including Skinners’ Kent Academy, Fordcombe Primary School, Speldhurst Primary School, Langton Green Primary School and St Mark’s Primary School.
Tunbridge Wells residents, many of whom have recently received compensation from South East Water for the pre-Christmas outage, are “livid” at this latest failure of supply – which has yet again seen residents flushing loos with rainwater, flocking to water stations, and hurriedly showering if water returns.
Issues with the water supply were initially due to a “recurrence of water quality issues” at Pembury Treatment Works near Tunbridge Wells; later problems were put down to burst water pipes due to freeze-thaw weather conditions, meaning not enough water to create pressure to pump to higher ground; and later, they were said to be airlocks in the system. Plain, simple “demand” has also been blamed by South East Water.
Tunbridge Wells resident Jonathan Hawker is driving the call for Government to take charge of the crisis and for an urgent public meeting in Tunbridge Wells. He is also urging residents to ask Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin to “focus his energies on Government emergency intervention”.
Mr Hawker has even produced templates for letters and emails, so residents can “inundate” South East Water and others to “get this matter resolved”.
We’re not ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells,’ we’re livid
He told KentLive: “Tunbridge Wells is not just disgusted. It is livid. The government must step in now. SE Water is now persistently failing not just Tunbridge Wells but communities beyond.”
“Families cannot live without water. This crisis requires government intervention urgently and the appointment of an independent expert to review the water infrastructure and provide recommendations to modernize it fully. It’s time for outside help as SE Water is clearly flushing itself down a plug hole.”
He said there had been “further deterioration” of the service overnight, with more communities nearby now being “failed” by the water company, as their water stops. Mr Hawker described the infrastructure at Bewl Reservoir and Pembury, the latter where there is treatment works, as “archaic”.
He is calling on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to amplify the community’s feelings about “this fiasco”; agree an action plan on how to persuade the government to appoint an independent expert to review and make recommendations on how the failing infrastructure should be modernised; and get an emergency action plan by government to address this crisis in the short term.
South East Water said: “We expect the levels to be stable by Tuesday, January 13. This means that your water will return this morning as water levels recover overnight, but may be intermittent during this afternoon and evening as more water is used throughout the day, levels drop, and the pumps will automatically switch off.
“We completely appreciate this will be tough for our customers, we’re very sorry. This is not the level of service we want to provide. We believe this is the quickest way to return water supplies to normal.”
‘Bring water into public ownership’
One resident said now was the time to take the water supply out of private hands. They said: “This is also the right moment to get the government to consider bringing water into public ownership. The UK is quite unique in allowing private companies to monopolise water which is what is the root cause of this problem. Perhaps there is a way to channel the conversation in this direction.”
South East Water chief David Hinton was grilled at a public evidence session before Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee at Westminster.
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