Days Of Disruption

The MP for Tonbridge, Tom Tugendhat, has said South East Water's handling of the break down of drinking water supplies has been "unacceptable. "

Tom Tugendhat made the comments after four days which have seen taps run dry at 5,000 homes in West Kent.

Most homes in Sevenoaks which lost their supplies on Monday regained their supply on Tuesday. 

But new cut offs affected Bidborough on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile in Tonbridge, the Judd School, Tonbridge Grammar School, Weald of Kent Grammar School, Leigh Academy and Somerhill Schools all said they were closed on Wednesday for a second day running due to a lack of water supply.

By Thursday most customers had their supplies restored and schools were reopening.

But many people found they had to run their taps for long periods to clear brown water - in one case half an hour. South East Water say that they may be able to provide a reduction in bills to allow for this - if they are contacted individually.

Tonbridge MP Tom Tugendhat (below) said he looking for clear answers on how much compensation customers could expect.

South East Water said the weekend storms caused a mechanical fault that meant a back up generator at a vital Sevenoaks treatment works failed, which meant drinking water reservoirs could no longer be refilled.

Bottled water stations have been available at Sovereign Way East Car Park in Tonbridge and Speldhurst Village Hall. The company also says it has been "continuing to deliver bottled water to customers listed on our Priority Services Register as well as care homes."

South East Water said on Wednesday morning at 10am that: "Due to the hilly nature of the area, we are experiencing some airlocks in our pipes. Our teams are on the ground right now releasing airlocks where they find them, to help restore supplies to customers during the day."

Updates can be found here:
https://aqualerter.southeastwater.co.uk/

Mr Tugendhat said he had now spoken to the Chief executive of South East Water, David Hinton (pictured below) to tell him: "This isn't good enough."

After a breakdown in water supplies to Tunbridge Wells in December 2022, the then MP Greg Clark described the leadership of South East Water as “deficient” in a crisis situation.

After his call with David Hinton, Tom Tugendhat released this update at 12.30: "I have been told that water supply in South Tonbridge should be returned to normal by the end of the working day".

Tom Tugendhat continued: "Once our water supply has been returned to normal, I will continue to work with South East Water to understand what went wrong and ensure that the residents of Tonbridge never have to experience such disrupted service again."

The Wednesday morning 9am update on Facebook by Tom Tugendhat provoked a flurry of responses from West Kent residents.

Resident Helen Vincent wrote: "The lack of water is a public health hazard. Access to clean water and sanitation is vital.

"So many people on the priority list have been ignored. South East Water should be ashamed of themselves and held responsible in Parliament.

"The current water stations are not adequate for the sheer volume of people needing water. People have to wait long periods to then only be given 12 bottles. This does not last long as a family of 4, let alone larger families, and those collecting for neighbours.

"Once this is resolved, real compensation needs to be requested. I don't believe SE Water adding a small token to bills is adequate. Residents have lost 2 days worth of income, local businesses have had to close and parents have had to make alternative childcare arrangements or juggle work and online learning while schools have been shut."

South East Water gave this response on Facebook: "Hi, We are really sorry for the inconvenience that is being caused to you.

"A power cut on Sunday afternoon caused our water treatment works in Sevenoaks to shut down, meaning we were unable to treat water at the site and fill our drinking water storage tanks.

"We are pleased to confirm that the power has now been restored to the site and our treatment works are operating at maximum capacity. We are now in recovery mode and working on refilling our network to regain customers supplies.

"We are aware of some areas that are not refilling as expected due to airlocks however our technicians are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. Please be assured that we are working tirelessly to restore drinking water supplies as swiftly as possible.

"As soon as the network in the area stabilises we will use our analysis of pressure and water flow data to understand how the area was impacted and for how long. We will then assess what levels of customer and community compensation may be available and contact those customers with an update.

"When choosing appropriate bottled water station/hub locations we take into account a range of factors including accessibility for large artic lorries - not only at the location, but along access roads - the health and safety of customers collecting the water, as well as our staff and the most central sites to serve the area affected.

"These bottled water hubs were chosen by taking this criteria into account, while also considering the wider pressure on the network, areas without water and other areas at risk of going without water".

Another resident Duncan Best responded: "The cost to the local economy is outrageous; schools are closed, parents are being given home-learning instructions, and businesses have had to shut down.

"This may seem like a first-world problem, but another issue is the knock-on damage to domestic appliances and boilers caused by the sludge coming out of the taps. Boilers will break down, filters will need replacing, and yet they’ll still hike our bills while paying out dividends.

Duncan Best concluded: "David Hinton should lose his job, and the company needs to be brought back into public ownership. For reference, he took home nearly half a million last year, while the company has paid out almost £200 million in dividends over the last five years."