Tunbridge Wells water supply crisis not good enough, watchdog says

Water supply problems still affecting thousands of people across Kent and Sussex is “just not good enough”, a watchdog has said.

Some 23,000 South East Water (SEW) customers had no water or intermittent supplies since Saturday, with the company blaming Storm Goretti and a power cut.

Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said the firm’s service “fails when the weather throws something a little bit extreme at it”.

The water company has apologised, adding it was working hard to fix the problems.

Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran has also joined calls for South East Water boss David Hinton to resign, adding: “Heads must roll.”

South East Water reported multiple “ongoing interruptions” across its network, though the number and location continually changed throughout Tuesday.

Affected areas were variously listed as Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Cuckfield, Ashford, East Grinstead, Burgess Hill, Tunbridge Wells, Coxheath, Plaxtol, Harbledown, Blean, Loose, Hollingbourne, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Kingswood, Sutton Valence, Marden and Boughton-under-Blean.

Keil said the current situation was “just not good enough” and that infrastructure needed to be improved through investment.

“Time and time again we see in particular South East Water’s patch that their service fails when the weather throws something a little bit extreme at it,” he said.

“We see in the summer it gets too hot they don’t have water, and now it’s too cold and you don’t get water.”

The company said affected customers in Sussex should see water supplies back on by Tuesday or Wednesday, but it could not commit to a deadline for Tunbridge Wells.

“This is a slow process as it’s a vast network of pipes which need to be carefully filled to avoid creating bursts which would delay restoration,” Dean said.

Several MPs and councillors have called on Hinton to step down.

“We cannot just pick another water supplier,” Kemkaran said.

“South East Water has not invested properly in maintaining its infastructure.”

Hinton – who earns a base salary of £400,000 and got a £115,000 bonus last year – previously vowed to stay in his post as he “feels customers pain“.

James Milne, who was picking up bottled water in East Grinstead, told BBC Radio Sussex that the past few days had been “absolutely terrible”.

“We haven’t had a proper shower or wash since Friday [and there have been] excuses non-stop from South East Water,” he said.

“If you look at any other private business, if they behaved this way, they would be sacked.”

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said independent businesses had been “severely impacted” by the ongoing crisis, with many forced to close their doors or operate at reduced capacity.

“This is yet another example of independent retailers bearing the brunt of infrastructure failures through no fault of their own,” he said.

Some schools have also been closed, with one headteacher telling BBC Radio Kent that she was having to use the school’s budget to buy bottled water from a supermarket.

Earlier, South East Water said that it was doing “everything” it could to support affected customers.

It added that it had set up water bottle stations across affected areas and was delivering supplies to customers on its priority register.

But a man in Tunbridge Wells, who is recovering from a spinal injury, told the BBC that he had not had any deliveries of bottled water, despite being on the list.

“I am in a desperate, desperate situation,” he said.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said on Tuesday that it had launched an investigation into the company over the water crisis.

It said it would look into “the circumstances leading up to the loss of supply, the actions taken by the company during the event, and its communications with consumers”.

The DWI added that it would take appropriate enforcement action “where required”.

Stuart Jeffery, leader of Maidstone Borough Council, has called for water companies to be brought back under state control.

“It is quite clear that our water companies are failing the public and the environment,” he said.

“They need to be renationalised urgently and invested in properly.”

South East Water said it had requested an additional £300m of funding to address problems on its network, the company’s head of commercial development Nicola Higgins said.

“We do have plans to improve the resilience of our system,” she said.

“We do have challenges that are playing out as we can see now.”

Hinton was recently grilled by MPs over his handling of a similar outage affecting 24,000 properties in the Tunbridge Wells area 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 his evidence.

The MP said he was “increasingly concerned” about the company’s management.

He added that the committee had taken an “unprecedented” step to recall Hinton to Parliament.

Water Minister Emma Hardy said she was “very concerned” about the latest supply disruption in Sussex and Kent.

She said the government had increased compensation amounts for affected customers and businesses

It was also “prioritising investment in infrastructure to improve the resilience of our water system,” she added.

Five bottled water stations will be open until 22:00 GMT at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club, Maidstone Leisure Centre near Mote Park, and at East Grinstead Sports Club as well as Kings Centre and East Court in the town.