Kent water failure was foreseen and could have been stopped, regulator says | Water industry
A failure at a water treatment center that left tens of thousands of Kent households without water was predicted weeks ago and could have been stopped, the regulator has said.
Due to a fault at the Pembury water treatment centre, 24,000 homes in the Tunbridge Wells area were left without drinking water for two weeks from 30 November last year.
At first, there was no water coming from the taps, then a boil water warning was issued to the town. South East Water has told residents the water coming from their taps is not suitable for drinking, feeding to pets, brushing teeth, bathing children or bathing with open wounds.
Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) chief inspector Marcus Rink said the problem began on November 9 when there was “visible deterioration” at the facility.
He told MPs at a select committee hearing that the company also failed to carry out appropriate testing required by the regulator and also failed to install a filter that would prevent dangerous heavy metals from entering the water supply.
“This should not have come as a surprise,” he told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee hearing.
The problem arose because the coagulant chemical used to purify drinking water stopped working. “My inspectors’ opinion is that if they had done the proper testing and had the proper data, the original chemical would have worked,” Rink said.
He said South East Water last carried out proper testing in July, adding that the company was “flying blind” and manually collecting data on how the coagulant was working rather than using an electronic system that could detect problems in real time.
The aging treatment plant, the only one serving Tunbridge Wells, has been under DWI enforcement notice since last year due to risks of bacterial and pesticide contamination.
During his defensive showing at the select committee hearing, the water company’s chief executive, David Hinton, suggested the problem had come out of nowhere.
He said: “The real problem that caused this was a change in raw water chemistry that we haven’t seen in 20 years.” He called it “an unexpected failure”.
He also blamed “lifestyle changes” for pressures on the water supply system as customers “spend more time at home” since 2020, and suggested the problem was caused by the climate crisis, as a recent drought had depleted the reservoir feeding the treatment centre.
“Climate change is changing the environment; we had to have a backup chemical,” he said.
Hinton also blamed the regulator’s “infrastructure standards” for having a single water supply hub to Tunbridge Wells, adding: “Customers who rely on a single entity are always more at risk than those who don’t until infrastructure standards are updated.”
Rink said the inspectorate had little recourse to take further enforcement action against the water company because it issued a boil water notice and informed residents of the risk before doing so.
He explained: “We opposed notice for the company to install a microfiltration unit to stop residual aluminum leaking into the fresh water tank. The company did not install this. We have no other enforcement to deal with this, the regulations do not provide us with the relevant facility to do so. We do not consider that we have a potential pathway under current legislation that would allow us to confirm the company’s qualification status.”
South East Water is on the verge of financial collapse, a fate that threatens many other water companies. had to last year Ask for £200m cash injection from its investors after being placed on the watchlist by regulator Ofwat. about financial health.
South East Water has been contacted for comment.
