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 skill to course of water on the typical charge at its important Sussex remedy plant.
Coupled with burst pipes from freezing temperatures, this has left the area’s consuming water provides operating low.
SEW incident supervisor Matthew Dean apologised to clients 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 clients 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 as we speak with full provides anticipated to be restored tomorrow afternoon. That is due to the huge community of pipes, which must be fastidiously crammed 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 stated the corporate is deploying 26 tankers to pump water immediately into the community whereas restore groups work across the clock to repair leaks and bursts, with additional employees available to hurry up repairs.
Bottled water is being delivered to clients who’re most in want on the Precedence Companies Register.
Moreover, councils have arrange 5 bottled water stations open till 10pm as we speak (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 Courtroom, 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 monitor document 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 difficulty” on the Pembury Water Therapy Works.
Talking within the Commons on Monday, Water Minister Emma Hardy stated 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 elements… 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 clients.”
Earlier this month, SEW chief government David Hinton confronted criticism from MPs for what they described as a “basically missing” human response throughout a listening to of the Surroundings, Meals and Rural Affairs Committee.
One member of the committee stated they had been “fairly shocked” by the “lack of accountability” proven by Mr Hinton, though he opened the session with an apology to clients.
Mr Hinton attributed the issues to inadequate infrastructure within the South East and warned that such dangers are “inevitable” with out additional funding.
