An MP says it is “utterly disgraceful” that more than 24,000 customers have been left without water after a treatment works was forced to shut.
Mike Martin is working with lorries loaded with bottled water and the police to get urgent deliveries blue-lighted to stations handing out supplies in the Tunbridge Wells area.
South East Water crews handing out water at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, St John’s Road. Picture: Mike Martin
A bad batch of coagulant chemicals caused Pembury’s treatment works site to be shut down yesterday.
South East Water customers are experiencing their second day of disruption, with the number of customers affected previously reported to be 6,000.
But that number has since climbed to tens of thousands – a figure which the area’s Liberal Democrat MP has slammed.
“I’ve been told that 24,000 people have been affected,” he wrote on X. “Utterly disgraceful.”
South East Water’s incident manager, Marc Sims, says the firm is sorry to customers who continue to have no water or low pressure.
St John’s Sport Centre is handing out water today (November 30). Picture: Mike Martin
He says an issue with the chemicals used at the Pembury treatment site led to it shutting down.
“We are aware of about 24,000 customers who are without water,” he said.
“We are continuing to move water around and tankering into the network to try and bring as many supplies back as possible.
“We have received a new batch of the affected chemical this morning and the required water quality checks are currently underway.”
Bottled water stations had been set up at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre and Sovereign Way East Car Park – but the latter has closed due to the winter festival in Tonbridge.
Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin has branded the water outage “utterly disgraceful”
A further station is being opened at RCP Parking in Tunbridge Wells, but the firm is waiting for the bottled water to be delivered.
“We will let you know once the station is ready to use,” Mr Sims added.
“Please do not travel to the site until you are notified that it is open, to avoid traffic blocking our lorries from delivering bottled water to the site.
“Our customer care team and Water Direct have already delivered bottled water to more than 2,000 of the most vulnerable customers on our PSR register and will continue to do so throughout the day.”
South East Water first posted about the issue on its website at about 1.30pm yesterday,
The firm had hoped it would be resolved by 6pm today, but it now estimates it will be fixed by 6am tomorrow.
A health chief has confirmed Tunbridge Wells Hospital is not experiencing any significant low-pressure issues.
Executive director on-call for the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Rachel Jones, says the site has a water tank as “mitigation” for if supplies run low.
“We have distributed bottled water to patients going home to any affected area,” she added.
Businesses have been impacted by the outage too, with the Black Horse in Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells, saying its taps ran dry at midnight.
“Sadly, this means it is illegal for us to open, and trust me, if I could, I would be opening,” it wrote on Facebook.
Likewise, The Bull in Frant Road, Tunbridge Wells, is also shut due to the water outage.
“For health and safety reasons, we cannot operate without running water, so we have no choice but to remain closed until the supply is fully restored,” bosses wrote on Facebook.
It apologised to its customers who had reservations booked for today but said it would keep a “close eye” on the situation and update customers if anything changes.
Additional reporting by Brad Harper
