Additional reporting by Joe Harbert
The Prime Minister has branded Kent’s continuing water crisis as “totally unacceptable” as thousands of homes and businesses learned they would remain without a supply until Friday.
Schools across the county remain closed today as areas of Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Pembury, Plaxtol, and Coxheath are still without water.
But this evening, South East Water announced taps wouldn’t be running anytime soon for around 6,500 households in Tunbridge Wells.
The company said a plan to increase the amount of water in the area’s local storage tank has not worked as quickly as it hoped, and so they it need to keep the booster pumps off for at least 36 hours.
A spokesperson said: “This is so we can work to increase the levels to a point where you have a consistent water supply from Friday morning.”
It said a major operation was being launched to deliver bottled water directly to every affected home this evening and overnight into tomorrow.
Residents have been told they “do not need to be home to receive this – we will leave it on your doorstep”.
The operator is also delivering reusable ‘grab bags’ to every home to help flush toilets.
This evening, the Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds confirmed she had taken the unusual step of asking Ofwat, the water regulator, to review South East Water’s licence.
She said: “South East Water is the worst performing water company for water supply interruptions. Today, in Tunbridge Wells, I spoke to residents about the ongoing outage.
“I am asking Ofwat to review if South East Water is operating in line with its licence.”
It came after Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions that he had asked the PM to “get a grip” of South East Water last month.
He added: “The water company bosses involved now stand accused of misleading Parliament over their failures.
“South East Water keeps failing its customers over and over again. So will the government immediately strip them of their licence?”
In response, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The situation is clearly totally unacceptable.”
He added that ministers were holding daily emergency meetings with the company to hold it to account.
The government had also doubled the compensation rates for individuals and businesses, he said, and made it clear to SEW that it must urgently invest in infrastructure.
Ofwat cannot solely revoke an undertaker’s licence, but is able to replace an existing undertaker in certain scenarios under the Water Industry Act 1991.
Special administration can also be used to transfer the company to new owners.
Ofwat’s last licence revocation happened in December 2024, involving public sector supplier Olympos Water Limited due to repeated breaches of the company’s licence conditions.
When the issues began the utility company said they came as a result of “recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts” across its network, resulting in drinking water storage tanks running very low.
But now, in a letter to Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee chairman Alistair Carmichael MP, SEW bosses have hit out at water regulator Ofwat.
They say the firm had been unable to invest in “very significant additional infrastructure” after bill increase proposals were rejected.
In a letter outlining the company’s position to EFRA, South East Water CEO David Hinton and chairman Chris Train hit out at water regulator Ofwat’s “refusal” to fully fund its resilience schemes.
It added: “While other water companies face similar challenges, the speed and severity of climate change in the south east in particular has outstripped reasonable predictions.
“This, coupled with other developments which have increased demand for water, requires very significant additional infrastructure to ensure our networks are resilient and risks to customer supplies are mitigated.”
Yesterday (January 13), it emerged that senior SEW leadership are to be recalled to give evidence in Parliament about its handling of December’s water crisis in Tunbridge Wells, which left 24,000 homes without supplies for days due to issues at the firm’s Pembury water treatment plant.
Mr Hinton and Mr Train will be hauled before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee following an appearance on January 6, where MPs questioned the company’s handling of that outage.
It was revealed SEW is now conducting an inquiry into itself, with non-executive director Caroline Sheridan due to report back by April.
The firm was said to have questioned evidence given to the committee by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
A SEW spokesperson said: “We have fully complied with the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s request for information to date and we will continue to provide any further information requested.
“This will include attending any further meetings that are required.”
Thousands of properties and businesses have been affected by the latest outages and several schools around the county are closed again today (January 14), with Kingswood Primary School and Ulcombe CofE Primary School confirmed among them.
Mum-of-four Sarah Moore, from Loose, is one of those who has faced intermittent water supply issues since Friday.
With a busy household and in an effort to keep things clean, she has resorted to putting a carrier bag in the upstairs and downstairs toilet and told her daughters to pretend they’re on holiday and put tissue in the bag instead.
“I guess that’s the most drastic thing,” she told KentOnline.
“It would be nice to just know what’s happening. It’s just where it’s trickling on and off and you’ve just got to keep checking all throughout the day so you try and have a shower and then it goes off again halfway through. It’s been really tricky.”
Yesterday, nursery worker Carol Parker explained Coxheath Preschool & Rising Fives had to shut after it lost its supply.
Speaking yesterday, she said: “It’s getting past a joke. We can’t live off bottled water.
“There are families with young children who need baths, and the elderly too.”
Some 6,500 households in Tunbridge Wells had their water restored temporarily today, but are now without water again, while in Maidstone and surrounding villages, the last figure was in excess of 2,000 properties.
People living in Willesborough, Ashford, were also warned they may find little or no pressure after South East Water said it was supplying the fire service following a blaze in the area.
In a statement after 3pm today, SEW incident manager, Matthew Dean, said: “Water supplies have returned to 11,500 properties in East Grinstead, a further 2,500 are returning to supply this afternoon with the remaining 2,500 later today.
“The 6,500 customers in Tunbridge Wells on the boosted system have lost supplies for today after the water levels in the area’s drinking water storage tank dropped below the level the boosters can run.
“In total, supplies have been restored to 16,000 properties across Kent and Sussex during the past 24 hours.
“We are very sorry to all our customers who have been affected. We know and understand how difficult going without water for such a long period of time is and how difficult it makes everyday life.
“We are using 26 tankers to pump water directly into our network to increase the amount of water available in the affected areas and our leak repair teams are working around the clock to fix the leaks and bursts across Kent and Sussex, with extra resources available to help carry out repairs.”
Around 1,000 properties in the Kemsing area were affected, but SEW says it has teams clearing airlocks to restore full supplies today.
And 750 properties in the Linton area should also have their water restored throughout today.
Bottled water sites will be open between 9am and 10pm at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club, TN2 5LS, Odeon Cinema car park, Knights Way, Tunbridge Wells, TN2 3UW and Mote Park Leisure Centre, Mote Park, Maidstone, ME15 7RN.
SEW says it is continuing to deliver bottled water to vulnerable customers without supplies who are on its Priority Services Register – a free service you can register for here.
The full list of areas facing ongoing water interruption, according to South East Water:
Tunbridge Wells
Customers in Pembury and south Tunbridge Wells have had intermittent supply with water in the morning, but later going off in the afternoon and evenings.
This is because the local drinking water storage tank dropped to low levels due to the freeze and thaw conditions, causing multiple burst pipes in the area.
SEW now says normal service is not expected until Friday morning. Until then, customers may not have any supply at all.
An update from SEW on the Tunbridge Wells situation at 5.30pm said: “We had expected the system to be stable by yesterday (Tuesday), however, the refill is happening slower than we hoped due to wider issues and further supply interruptions across our Kent and Sussex networks.
“We have developed a new plan that will allow us to refill the storage tank to a much higher level. This will mean keeping the booster pumps off for a further 36 hours.”
The majority of people in Mount Ephraim should have their supply back, however, though homes on higher ground may still experience issues.
Sevenoaks and surrounding areas
In Kemsing, supplies are returning to customers’ homes after Storm Goretti reportedly caused problems at the water treatment works.
Those in the Plaxtol area will also start to see their water supply return as levels in the local drinking water storage tank are increasing.
SEW says it worked through the night to boost the water levels, but it will be a gradual process for full supplies to return to everyone.
When it does return, it may also be intermittent for a while until the reservoir completely recovers.
Maidstone and surrounding areas
In Loose, supplies are returning to customers’ homes as normal.
Meanwhile, in Coxheath, a burst water pipe, which was causing issues in the area, is now fixed, but customers may still have no water or low pressure as the network refills.
And those in Lenham may have no water or low pressure in the High Street area, due to a burst water pipe.
SEW says it is working as quickly as it can to repair it.
There are also problems with no or low water pressure in East Street, Harrietsham, due to a burst main.
Tonbridge
Customers may have no water or low pressure due to airlocks in the system.
It follows a problem at the water treatment works yesterday, which teams have since fixed.
Ashford
Those in the Bonnington Road area should have supplies returning to normal after a burst pipe was fixed.
Canterbury and surrounding areas
Customers around and in Harbledown, Blean and Boughton-under-Blean should have water returning to their homes as normal.
Hollingbourne, Headcorn and surrounding areas
Most customers should have their water returned after Storm Goretti reportedly caused problems at the water treatment works.
