Regulator ‘concerned’ as 25,000 properties still without water in two counties

The water watchdog says it is “concerned” as 25,000 properties remain affected by outages across Kent and Sussex.

South East Water (SEW) has blamed this latest supply failure on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.

Many residents are now into a fourth day without water with the newest outages starting during the night between Friday and Saturday last week.

On Tuesday, water supplies to Loose in Maidstone, Blean near Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and parts of Tunbridge Wells have been restored, SEW said.

After apologising again, it added that drinking water to 16,500 properties in East Grinstead should be restored this afternoon.

Ofwat, the water services regulation authority, has voiced “concern” about the outages, and says it will “review all the evidence” before deciding whether SEW has met its legal obligations to customer care.

South East Water’s incident manager, Matthew Dean, said: “Around 25,000 customers in Kent and Sussex remain affected by no water or intermittent supplies following the recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts across Kent and Sussex, which has resulted in our drinking water storage tanks running very low.”

Bottled water stations remain in place in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead and Maidstone, and location details can be found on SEW’s website.

The company has said it is “working around the clock” to fix the leaks and bursts across the counties.

Mr Dean added: “Our customer care team is delivering bottled water to the customers on our Priority Services Register who are most in need.

“We are also supporting hospitals with tankers and providing bottled water for care homes, schools, medical care providers and to support livestock.”

Last week, SEW’s chief executive David Hinton was grilled by MPs over his handling of a similar outage affecting 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells last month.

The chairman of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee Alistair Carmichael MP, later sent a letter questioning the “accuracy and intent” of Mr Hinton’s evidence.

An Ofwat spokesperson said on Tuesday: “We are concerned that residents in Kent and Sussex are without water again, and are working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which is the lead regulator for this latest supply interruption, to ensure that regulation and enforcement is aligned.

“Ofwat already has an active investigation into South East Water related to its supply resilience, and we have met with the company to discuss these latest incidents as part of that investigation.

“We will review all of the evidence before taking a decision on what further action may be required into whether the company has met its legal obligations set out in its licence relating to customer care, including with further potential enforcement action.”