Water finally restored to some of 30,000 customers hit by week of disruption
South East Water has faced intense criticism from MPs and the public
Water supplies have largely been restored to homes across Kent and Sussex, concluding nearly a week of disruption.
South East Water (SEW) blamed the outage, which began last Saturday, on burst pipes and power cuts caused by Storm Goretti. At its height, 30,000 customers across the two counties were without water or experiencing low pressure.
The beleaguered utility firm has faced intense criticism from MPs and the public, especially as this incident follows a similar one last month where 24,000 people in Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for two weeks.
On Friday, SEW’s incident manager Mathew Dean said: “Water supplies have now been restored to the 6,500 properties in Tunbridge Wells area.
“Some customers may be experiencing low pressure as the water levels continue to build this morning throughout the area’s pipeline network.
“Continuous supplies have been restored to the town after we implemented our recovery plan which involved keeping local booster pumps switched off for 36 hours so our drinking water storage tank could fill.
“We are very sorry to every single one of 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.”
Ofwat announced on Thursday that they are launching an investigation into whether the supplier had breached its licence condition by failing to comply with customer service standards obligations and offering appropriate support to affected customers during supply interruptions.
If the regulator decides South East Water (SEW) has breached the conditions and should be stripped of the licence, the supplier could fall into a special administration regime until a new buyer was found.
If Ofwat rules that the supplier is in breach, but does not revoke the licence, penalties can include a fine of 10% of the firm’s annual turnover.
Roughly 320 properties in Bidborough are still affected by low water levels so tankers are being used to assist the area.
Bottled water sites in Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Bidborough will remain open “as a precaution” today, the company has said.
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