Water restored to most homes in Kent and Sussex after six days of disruption
South East Water blamed the outage, which began on Saturday, on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.
Water has been restored to most homes across Kent and Sussex after almost a week of disruption.
South East Water (SEW) blamed the outage, which began on Saturday, on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.
At the height of the incident, the company reported that 30,000 customers across the two counties were without water, or experiencing low water pressure.
The beleaguered water firm has faced heavy criticism from MPs and the public as the outage came on the heels of a similar incident last month, where 24,000 people in Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for two weeks.
On Friday, SEW’s incident manager Mathew Dean said: “Water supplies have now been restored to the 6,500 properties in Tunbridge Wells area.
“Some customers may be experiencing low pressure as the water levels continue to build this morning throughout the area’s pipeline network.
“Continuous supplies have been restored to the town after we implemented our recovery plan which involved keeping local booster pumps switched off for 36 hours so our drinking water storage tank could fill.
“We are very sorry to every single one of our customers who have been affected.
“We know and understand how difficult going without water for such a long period of time is and how difficult it makes everyday life.”
Ofwat announced on Thursday that they are launching an investigation into whether the supplier had breached its licence condition by failing to comply with customer service standards obligations and offering appropriate support to affected customers during supply interruptions.
If the regulator decides South East Water (SEW) has breached the conditions and should be stripped of the licence, the supplier could fall into a special administration regime until a new buyer was found.
If Ofwat rules that the supplier is in breach, but does not revoke the licence, penalties can include a fine of 10% of the firm’s annual turnover.
Roughly 320 properties in Bidborough are still affected by low water levels so tankers are being used to assist the area.
Bottled water sites in Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Bidborough will remain open “as a precaution” today, the company has said.
