South East Water apologises to Tunbridge Wells customers cut off again

Bottled water stations will open in Tunbridge Wells and Bidborough on Wednesday after hundreds of households had no drinking water or low-pressure supplies overnight.

South East Water said at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday it was unable to pump water to homes because of a series of burst pipes in the area due to the freezing temperatures.

On Wednesday morning, the company apologised and said that although water was returning to the 500 affected homes in Kent, supplies would be intermittent.

Water stations at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club and Bidborough Village Hall will open from 10:00, and bottled water is being delivered to priority customers.

Incident manager Mike Court said: “Following a series of bursts in the Tunbridge Wells area as a result of the cold weather, our drinking water storage tanks ran low and despite using our tankers to provide additional support, the drinking water level in the storage tanks drained lower than required for the boosters to run.

“This caused customers on higher ground than the tanks to lose supply yesterday afternoon, and again later in the evening.

“In Bidborough, a series of bursts yesterday afternoon resulted in customers experiencing no water or low pressure overnight.

“We have completed some repairs and have teams in the area working to restore supply.

“Although water is returning, around 500 properties remain affected, and supplies are likely to be intermittent throughout the day.”