Ofwat ‘concerned’ after mass Kent and Sussex water outage

Water regulator Ofwat has said it is concerned that thousands of people are still facing supply problems across Kent and Sussex.

Customers of South East Water (SEW) began experiencing issues on Saturday, with the company blaming the impact of Storm Goretti and a power cut at its pumping plant.

Two days later, the company said about 30,000 properties across Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Maidstone, Whitstable, Canterbury, and surrounding towns were without water, faced low pressure or had intermittent supplies.

South East Water, which has apologised, said there were still 11 ongoing interruptions. It has been providing water bottle stations and is updating customers via its website.

Water minister Emma Hardy said she had asked Ofwat to investigate.

In a statement, Ofwat said: “We are concerned that residents in Kent and Sussex are without water again, and are working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate.”

It added that it would review all evidence before making a decision on further action into whether the company had met its legal obligations relating to customer care.

On Tuesday morning, SEW said customers in Chairhurst and Cross-At-Hand were among those still enduring disruption.

It said they had low pressure or no supply at all due to unexpected emergency repairs.

The company said as soon as the repairs were completed water would return as normal.

It also said its teams had repaired a burst water main in Bearstead near Maidstone and some customers should have been seeing their taps flowing as normal, although it may have been cloudy or white.

“If you fill a glass of water and it clears from the bottom upwards then this means your water is just a little more aerated than usual,” the company said.

“If your water looks brown in colour, please don’t worry as it is not harmful. This happens when small particles of iron within the mains are disturbed.

“Simply run from your cold kitchen tap until the water is clear.”

Work began to fix some of the issues on Saturday and by Monday SEW said taps in parts of Kent and East Sussex were “flowing as normal”.

On Monday, Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran wrote on X that a “major incident” had been declared.

Several schools in the counties were also closed on Monday because of the lack of water, along with the public libraries in East Grinstead.

The Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead also said some appointments may have to be carried out virtually.

Several MPs have now urged SEW boss David Hinton, who earns a base salary of £400,000 and got a £115,000 bonus in 2025, to step down or to be removed from his role.

SEW has been contacted for further comment.