The taps ran dry for thousands of families in Kent on Saturday after a sudden instrument failure at a water treatment works forced a shutdown – just days after the supplier was ordered to pay £30.5m in compensation over repeated outages.
Around 7,000 properties across Tunbridge Wells and nearby Pembury have been hit by low pressure, intermittent supplies or no water at all, with those on higher ground worst affected, South East Water said. The failure at the treatment works left drinking water storage tanks too low to pump supplies properly to customers.
“7,000 Kent homes without water after instrument failure; South East Water warns supplies may not return until Sunday.”
Although the site is now running again, the firm warned that supplies may not fully return until Sunday evening at the earliest. Emergency bottled water stations were opened at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club and the Tesco Superstore on Pembury Road, while vulnerable customers on the priority services register were receiving doorstep deliveries.
Incident manager Robert Anthony-Scorse apologised for the latest disruption. “An earlier instrument failure at our water treatment works in the Tunbridge Wells area caused the site to shut down,” he said. “Although the site is now running, this has impacted levels in our local drinking water storage tanks and, coupled with the continued high demand, this means we’re unable to pump water to customers, particularly those on higher ground.”
It comes after watchdog Ofwat ordered South East Water to pay £30.5m this week following three investigations into its performance. The package includes £22m linked to supply failures between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 286,000 people. The latest outage, which struck on a weekend, raises fresh questions about whether the embattled company can keep the taps flowing even as it faces mounting penalties for failing to do so.