Thousands of homes were still without drinkable water tonight after almost a week without a supply.
Residents of Tunbridge Wells in Kent were told to boil their tap water and let it cool before drinking as a ‘precaution’ due to a fault in the disinfection process.
Under-pressure South East Water (SEW) bosses turned the supply back on to 24,000 homes after Keir Starmer hit out at the ‘shocking’ extended interruption, which started last Saturday.
But the firm’s treatment works in Pembury, Kent, is still unable to produce water safe to drink – and only allows residents to shower and flush their toilets.
SEW’s head of water quality, Dr Neil Hudson, said: ‘After recharging our network in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas slowly, we have seen a recurrence of the water-quality issues that caused the initial shutdown.
Because of this, we are currently unable to produce drinking water from the Pembury treatment works.
‘We understand many customers have been without water for a number of days, causing issues with basic public health functions such as flushing the toilet or showering.
‘We have therefore taken the decision to pump water from our treatment works into the network, which can be used for flushing toilets or showering, but crucially cannot be used for drinking without boiling first.’
The boil notice is expected to remain in place until next Friday at the earliest. The loss of water has forced businesses to close, costing thousands, and wreaked havoc for residents, particularly those who are less able to collect bottled water handed out by SEW.
One Tunbridge Wells resident, Darren Carpenter, said he was angry over ‘broken promises’ from the water company, and the high salaries of its leaders.
Alex Gregg, owner of Fuggles Beer Cafe, said he had to throw away food and 175 pints of cask beer due to their short shelf-life after being forced to close his business, costing him up to £7,000.
Birkan Koca, owner of Eggs Eleven cafe, described the situation as a ‘shambles’, saying it had cost his business at least £15,000.
‘The coffee machine doesn’t get to boiling so can’t use it,’ he said.
Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin said it had been ‘a total failure of leadership’ and called for the chief executive of SEW, Dave Hinton, to resign.
Sir Keir described the situation as ‘shocking’, adding: ‘There’s really serious consequences, and we are bearing down on that because it’s such a serious issue.’
The Consumer Council for Water, an independent body, has called for an investigation, noting that customers in Tunbridge Wells have seen water bills rise ‘significantly’ this year.
