Thousands hit with water supply issues in Kent

Residents from more than 7,000 properties across Kent are facing water disruption.

South East Water (SEW) said the issue affected levels in drinking water storage tanks, meaning supplies could not be pumped properly to homes in Tunbridge Wells and Pembury, particularly to higher areas.

Bottled water stations were opened at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club and at Tesco Superstore in Pembury Road, Tunbridge Wells, until 22:00 BST on Saturday and are set to reopen at 07:00 on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, SEW warned supplies would not return "until tomorrow evening at the earliest". Bottled water is being delivered to customers on a priority register, incident manager Robert Anthony-Scorse says.

Residents across Kent and Sussex have experienced multiple water supply failures in recent months, which has seen SEW heavily criticised by regulators and politicians.

Earlier this week SEW apologised after it was ordered to spend £30.5m on improvements by water regulator Ofwat after repeatedly letting down customers.

Incident manager Robert Anthony-Scorse apologised for the problems. "An earlier instrument failure at our water treatment works in the Tunbridge Wells area caused the site to shut down," he said.

"Although the site is now running, this has impacted levels in our local drinking water storage tanks and, coupled with the continued high demand, this means we're unable to pump water to customers, particularly those on higher ground.

"As a result, around 7,000 properties may be experiencing supply issues today, including low pressure, intermittent supply or no water."

The firm, he said, was "working hard" to fix things, adding: "The site is in operation again, however to stabilise water levels in our drinking water tanks, water supplies will not return until at least tomorrow morning.

"We are using tankers to increase drinking water storage levels to help support the affected areas."

In June, Kent MP Tom Tugendhat dubbed the firm the "worst-run company I've ever come across".

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