The water services regulator has expressed serious concern as 23,000 properties across Kent and Sussex remain without a reliable water supply, a full day after authorities declared a major incident in the two counties.
For many residents, Tuesday 13 January 2026 marked a fourth consecutive day of outages. The latest wave of failures, which began overnight between Friday and Saturday, has been attributed to the destructive impact of Storm Goretti, which caused widespread power cuts and a surge in burst pipes.
Restoration Efforts and Mounting Pressure
South East Water (SEW) reported on Tuesday that it had managed to restore supplies to several areas, including Loose in Maidstone, Blean near Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown, and parts of Tunbridge Wells. The company also stated that drinking water had been returned to 2,000 properties in East Grinstead, with a further 3,000 expected to be reconnected by Wednesday morning.
However, the utility firm faces a monumental task, with teams still working to restore water to the remaining 11,500 affected properties. The company issued another apology to customers, acknowledging the severe disruption.
In a significant development, Ofwat, the water services regulation authority, confirmed it is closely monitoring the situation. A spokesperson stated the regulator would "review all the evidence" before determining whether SEW has met its legal obligations to customer care. Ofwat already has an active investigation into the company's supply resilience.
MPs Recall Bosses Amidst Scepticism
The crisis has intensified political scrutiny. SEW's chief executive, David Hinton, and chair, Chris Train, have been recalled to appear before MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee. This follows a separate major outage in December that left 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells without running water for days.
Alistair Carmichael, chairman of the Efra committee, revealed that he and his colleagues remain "deeply sceptical" about the water company's explanation for the supply failures. He accused SEW of attempting to "buy time" by announcing a further independent review, whose independence he questioned.
A South East Water spokesperson responded, saying: "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."
On-the-Ground Response and Cause of Crisis
SEW incident manager, Matthew Dean, told Sky News the company was "very sorry" to customers. He explained that Storm Goretti had critically affected the ability to treat raw water at a main Sussex treatment works. This, combined with numerous bursts due to freezing conditions, led to drinking water storage tanks running dangerously low.
The company's response has included:
- Deploying 26 tankers to pump water directly into the network.
- Working around the clock with leak repair teams.
- Completing 5,700 deliveries of bottled water over the weekend to vulnerable customers on the Priority Services Register.
- Supporting hospitals, care homes, schools, and livestock.
Bottled water stations remain operational in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, and Maidstone. The major incident was formally declared by Linden Kemkaran, leader of Kent County Council, on Monday morning after the number of impacted households grew. The disruption forced several schools in Kent and Sussex to close at the start of the week.
The affected areas include:
- Maidstone and surrounding areas
- Sevenoaks
- West Sussex
- Tunbridge Wells
- Canterbury and Whitstable
