Thousands hit by water supply issues in Kent after treatment works failure

Thousands of people in Kent are facing water supply issues over the weekend due to an instrument failure at a treatment works.South East Water (SEW) said on Saturday that more than 7,000 properties around the Tunbridge Wells area could face issues including low pressure, intermittent supply or no water.The issue is affecting levels in drinking water storage tanks, meaning supplies cannot be pumped properly to homes in Tunbridge Wells and Pembury, particularly to higher areas.According to SEW, water supplies will not return until Sunday evening at the earliest as storage tanks need to be replenished to a higher level to ensure a continuous and stable supply.SEW has set up bottled water stations at the Tesco Superstore on Pembury Road in Tunbridge Wells and at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club in St Marks Recreation Ground, which were open until 10pm on Saturday and reopened at 7am on Sunday morning.Bottled water is also being delivered to customers on a priority register.Speaking on Saturday, SEW incident manager Robert Anthony-Scorse said: “An earlier instrument failure at our water treatment works in the Tunbridge Wells area caused the site to shut down for a short period this morning.“The site has managed to run uninterrupted this afternoon. However this, along with several days of high demand for drinking water, has impacted levels in our local drinking water storage tanks.”Mr Anthony-Scorse said that the site was in operation again, and that SEW are working hard to increase the storage levels to get the booster pumps back up and running.“We want to be sure that once supplies return to customers, this will be a stable, continuous flow,” he added.SEW was ordered to spend £30.5 million on improvements after industry watchdog Ofwat found that the company had repeatedly let down customers.Read MoreThe regulator launched a series of probes after several supply interruptions in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent and Sussex between November and January.More than 77,000 customers experienced "periods without water supply, low pressure or intermittent supplies" as a result of leaks and bursts across the network and storms causing power cuts.Ofwat said that SEW, which has 2.3 million customers in the south east of England, would have to foot the bill along with shareholders, rather than place the burden on household bills.The redress package concludes three investigations into SEW, and includes a previously proposed £22 million fine for water supply failures between 2020 and 2023, which impacted more than 286,000 people.In June, Kent MP Tom Tugendhat dubbed the firm the "worst-run company I've ever come across".