Residents across Kent are facing a prolonged and disruptive water crisis, with thousands of properties still suffering from supply interruptions due to a series of failures by South East Water.
A Cascade of Failures Disrupts Supply
The latest incident saw the water supply to more than 5,500 households affected on Sunday evening. The problems stemmed from a combination of a treatment works fault, a power outage, and two separate burst water mains. This is merely the latest chapter in a saga of poor service from the beleaguered utility company.
Earlier in the week, a major incident was declared when 30,000 homes in Kent and Sussex were left without water for days. This follows a similar pre-Christmas outage that left 24,000 people in Tunbridge Wells without drinking water for a staggering two weeks, drawing heavy criticism from MPs and the public alike.
Localised Issues and Company Response
The specific issues are widespread. A fault at a treatment works on Saturday left 4,500 homes in villages outside Maidstone with no water or low pressure. While South East Water stated this was fixed by Sunday night, other areas remained affected.
Another 800 homes in Linton, near Maidstone, faced problems from a burst main, with repairs planned overnight. In Bidborough, 320 homes were still experiencing disruption five days after the company first reported a power outage. A further burst main on Sunday evening impacted an unconfirmed number of properties between Maidstone and Ashford.
In response, the company has been setting up bottled water stations in key locations including Maidstone, Ashford, and Tunbridge Wells. South East Water's incident manager, Matthew Dean, apologised to customers and stated that leak repair teams were "working around the clock" with extra resources deployed.
Regulatory Scrutiny and Calls for Accountability
The scale of the failures has triggered significant regulatory and political backlash. It was revealed this week that a major treatment centre failure in November, which contributed to the crisis, was foreseen weeks in advance and could have been prevented.
Marcus Rink, chief inspector at the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), told MPs that a "noticeable deterioration" at the plant began on 9 November and that the company failed to conduct proper testing. The water regulator, Ofwat, has now launched an investigation into whether South East Water breached its obligations on customer service.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds has called on Ofwat to review the company's licence to operate. Meanwhile, South East Water's chief executive, David Hinton, is facing mounting pressure to resign and refuse his bonus for this financial year. Despite the company's performance issues, Hinton, who earned £457,000 in the last financial year, remains in line for a £400,000 long-term bonus if he stays in his role until 2030.
The situation leaves thousands of Kent residents grappling with uncertainty, reliant on emergency water distributions, and demanding lasting solutions from a utility company under intense scrutiny.
