Supply disruption 'resolved', says South East Water

Water supplies have been restored to affected customers in parts of Kent and East Sussex, South East Water (SEW) has said.

About 6,500 homes and businesses in south Tunbridge Wells and Frant were without water on Wednesday after leaks and bursts reduced pressure across the network.

SEW confirmed that the area's storage tanks had recovered overnight, allowing booster pumps to be restarted on Thursday morning, but added that an intermittent supply risk remained.

Just before 18:00 GMT on Thursday, the company said "storage issues have now been resolved and water should now be flowing as normal".

SEW is also advising anyone whose water might "look brown in colour" following the resumption of service to "simply run the cold kitchen tap until it is clear".

And any water appearing "cloudy or white", but which clears from the bottom upwards when placed in a glass, can be explained as being "just a little more aerated than usual".

Customers in the Kent village of Bidborough continued to experience intermittent supplies for much of Thursday, with tankers being used to inject water into the local pipeline network, SEW said.

Incident manager Mike Court said: "While the picture is improving as leaks get repaired, there is a risk customers could see intermittent supplies... if demand for water outstrips the amount we can pump into the network."

He apologised to customers and businesses affected by the supply issues, saying he understood how disruptive interruptions to supply could be.

SEW said bottled water was being delivered to priority customers.

Deborah Parks, who lives in Frant, told BBC Radio Sussex that she had had low pressure but many of her neighbours had been cut off.

She said: "I'm fortunate to be at the bottom of a large hill so our pressure maintains a bit longer than other people, but I have no confidence that it won't just fizzle out again."

She added: "None of this is new. All of this is predictable. All of it could have been handled much, much better."

Two bottled water stations were also opened as a precaution at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club and Bidborough Village Hall between 09:00 GMT and 21:00.

The water company told customers to check its online interactive map for the latest news on water supplies in their area.

The incident came after 24,000 properties in the area lost supply or pressure for days between November and December following a water quality issue at a treatment works in Pembury.

Following the previous water outage in Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Eridge and Frant, SEW boss David Hinton – who earns a base salary of £400,000 and got a £115,000 bonus last year – was grilled by MPs on Tuesday about the crisis.

He has previously vowed to remain in his post despite calls from Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin to resign.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.