Tens of 1000’s of residents in South East England are dealing with water shortages in what Kent County Council has declared as a significant incident.
South East Water (SEW)’s Incident Supervisor Matthew Dean advised the Customary that roughly 25,000 properties throughout Kent and Sussex stay impacted.
SEW said Storm Goretti, which swept throughout the UK final week, disrupted its capacity to course of water on the standard charge at its important Sussex remedy plant.
Coupled with burst pipes from freezing temperatures, this has left the area’s consuming water provides working low.
SEW incident supervisor Matthew Dean apologised to prospects in Kent and Sussex who’re nonetheless dealing with water issues, together with no provide, low strain, or intermittent service.
The corporate added: “We’re very sorry to our prospects throughout Kent and Sussex who proceed to expertise points with their consuming water provide, together with no water, intermittent provide interruptions or low strain.
“Water provides to Free in Maidstone, Blean close to Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and components of Tunbridge Wells have been restored.
“Ingesting water to the 16,500 properties in East Grinstead will start to be restored right this moment with full provides anticipated to be restored tomorrow afternoon. That is due to the huge community of pipes, which must be fastidiously stuffed to keep away from creating bursts which might delay restoration.”
In line with the official web site, these areas are nonetheless with out water as of Tuesday morning:
- Victoria Gardens, Burgess Hill, West Sussex
- Tunbridge Wells, Kent
- Amsbury Street, Coxheath, Maidstone, Kent
- Yopps Inexperienced, Plaxtol, Sevenoaks, Kent
- Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
- Harbledown, Blean, Canterbury, Kent & surrounding areas
- Free and surrounding areas
- Hollingbourne, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Kingswood, Sutton Valence and surrounding areas
- East Grinstead and surrounding areas
- Radfall Street, Whitstable, Kent
- Marden, Tonbridge, Kent
- Brickfield Lane, Boughton-under-Blean, Faversham, Kent
Mr Dean mentioned the corporate is deploying 26 tankers to pump water straight into the community whereas restore groups work across the clock to repair leaks and bursts, with additional workers readily available to hurry up repairs.
Bottled water is being delivered to prospects who’re most in want on the Precedence Providers Register.
Moreover, councils have arrange 5 bottled water stations open till 10pm right this moment (Tuesday) on the following areas:
- East Grinstead Sports activities Membership, Saint Hill Street, East Grinstead, RH19 4JU
- Kings Centre, Moat Street, East Grinstead, RH19 3LN
- East Court docket, School Lane, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 3LT
- Tunbridge Wells Rugby Soccer Membership, St. Marks Recreation Floor, Tunbridge Wells TN2 5LS
- Mote Park Leisure Centre, Mote Park, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
SEW’s observe file and Authorities response
In 2023, South East Water was recognized because the worst firm within the UK for provide interruptions, and since then it has confronted a number of high-profile outages.
Essentially the most recent occurred in December 2025, when 24,000 residents in Tunbridge Wells went days with out water following a “water high quality situation” on the Pembury Water Therapy Works.
Talking within the Commons on Monday, Water Minister Emma Hardy mentioned the Authorities is “holding South East Water to account.”
She added: “The provision points in Kent and Sussex have been brought on by a lot of short-term components… nonetheless, the disruption within the South East comes in opposition to a backdrop of earlier outages and continued poor efficiency from South East Water in sustaining a dependable efficiency for its prospects.”
Earlier this month, SEW chief govt David Hinton confronted criticism from MPs for what they described as a “basically missing” human response throughout a listening to of the Setting, Meals and Rural Affairs Committee.
One member of the committee mentioned they have been “fairly shocked” by the “lack of accountability” proven by Mr Hinton, despite the fact that he opened the session with an apology to prospects.
Mr Hinton attributed the issues to inadequate infrastructure within the South East and warned that such dangers are “inevitable” with out additional funding.
