Major incident declared in Kent and Sussex leaving homes without water

A major incident has been declared in Kent and Sussex as thousands of homes are still left without water, intermittent supplies or low pressure.

According South East Water’s (SEW) website, 10 postcodes are still experiencing issues around the East Grinstead, Frant and Tunbridge Wells areas after issues began last week.

In its latest statement, on Sunday afternoon, the company said about 30,000 homes are affected.

Some customers have been warned that their water supply may not return until Tuesday.

SEW blamed Storm Goretti – which it said had affected its ability to treat raw water at the normal rate – and burst pipes caused by freezing weather for the issues in East Grinstead.

It said the problems in Eastbourne were caused by ‘essential network changes’ and blamed outages in Hollingbourne on ‘neighbouring water companies being unable to give us the bulk supplies of treated water as they normally do’.

It said leak repair teams were working around the clock to fix the leaks and bursts across the two counties, with extra resources deployed to help carry out repairs.

SEW has apologised to customers, some of whom have spoken about roads being gridlocked on approaches to bottle water stations.

In a post on X, Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran said: ‘A major incident has now been declared on the basis that more households and settings have been impacted in the last 24 hours and because we are putting additional arrangements in place to prepare for further potential disruption.’

Bottled water collections points have been set up for impacted households at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club, Headcorn Aerodrome, East Grinstead Sports Club, and Queensway Car Park.

Images show long queues of cars with people left waiting for hours to collect bottled water.

Meanwhile, several schools in Kent and Sussex have been forced to close for the day and The Queen Victoria Hospital in the town is having to carry out some appointments virtually.

Mike Martin, Lib Dem MP for Tunbridge Wells, told the BBC the chair of South East Water ‘needs to convene the board and get a grip of what’s going on’.

He said we are in a ‘bizarre situation’ where water has been privatised and they are not held accountable by anyone.

In a post of Facebook last night, Helen Grant, Conservative MP for Maidstone and Malling, said: ‘I have just finished a meeting with DEFRA Ministers, MPs and South East Water (SEW) and frankly I am absolutely appalled by SEW’s response to this urgent crisis.

‘I pushed the need for bottled water stations to be set up in Loose, Kings Hill and the Mallings. I have been told that a water station is being set up for Loose and the detail will be circulated later this afternoon, and a station for West Malling is being considered by DEFRA at the moment.

‘I am told the root causes are being rectified, but no firm timescales have been provided.

‘SEW indicated that supply may return to Loose overnight, but this remains uncertain. I am also hearing that supplies are already starting to be restored in the West Malling area.

‘DEFRA Minister, Mary Creagh MP, was clear that SEW’s communication has been completely unacceptable and instructed them to issue updates at least every two hours until Midnight tonight.

‘My priority is making sure vulnerable residents have water and ensuring supply is restored as quickly as possible. I will be attending another meeting this evening and will share updates as soon as I receive them.’

Water Minister Emma Hardy said: ‘I remain very concerned that people in several areas in the South East and South West are experiencing water supply issues following both cold weather and Storm Goretti.

‘This is entirely unacceptable. I held meetings with the water companies and local resilience forums over the weekend, and am meeting with them again today, to restore supplies as quickly as possible, prioritising vulnerable customers and essential public services.

‘Action by this Government means compensation rates have increased for customers and businesses affected by disruption. It underlines why this government is prioritising investment in infrastructure to improve the resilience of our water system.’

SEW has faced issues since the end of November, when 24,000 households had no water or low pressure.

Chaos continued for several days and when supplies came back, customers discovered they had to boil, then cool, their water before drinking it. 

The ‘boil water notice’ remained in place for nine days.