‘My village keeps losing water supply – so I fill up the bath and kettle every time I leave home’
Run the bath until it fills, fill the kettle and refill the fridge with water: It’s a daily routine for a Kent resident who fears he’ll be returning home without running water.
A major incident has been declared a major incident after tens of thousands of homes in Kent and Sussex have been without water since the early hours of Saturday morning.
But the citizens told Independent are “beyond disgusted” as they regularly face water shortages.
Joanne Lee, 53, of Ulcombe, Kent, said the problems were happening so frequently that she had to change her routine and never leave the house without refilling her water bottles.
“Sometimes it can take a few hours, sometimes it can take days. I have never lived in a place like this,” he said.
“I got into a routine of filling my bathroom so I could use it to flush the toilet. It became a daily routine because the water supply is so intermittent that it shouldn’t happen either.” [be] Normal for England.
“I never leave my house without my kettle full, my refrigerator full of water, I always leave my house full in case I don’t have water when I get home.”
South East Water (SEW) listed several causes of water shortages and pressure issues, including Storm Goretti, a water main burst and a power outage at the pumping plant.
The water company said Storm Goretti had affected its ability to purify water at its normal rate, which, combined with water mains bursting due to freezing conditions in Kent and Sussex, had caused drinking water levels to drop. Some schools in East Sussex are closed due to shortages and some appointments are being held virtually at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.
Collection points for bottled water have been set up and although the water company is working to maintain supply, some customers have been told supplies may not be restored until Tuesday.
It comes after 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Frant and Eridge experienced loss of water or low pressure due to “water quality issues” in December.
Paddy McGinley, 60, has lived in Ulcombe for four years and set up a WhatsApp group, Ulcombe Water Monitoring Group, following persistent water supply problems. He records every time there is a problem in the village and plans to forward the data to the local MP.
“Them [SEW] “They’re having trouble because they probably have an infrastructure that needs to be updated and they’re not doing it fast enough,” he said.
“Last year we had a 25 percent increase in our bills. So what are they doing with the extra money from customers and why are our hospitals reducing their services and our schools closing? These are very important things. The impact is huge.”
Jonathan Hawker, who also founded a campaign group for Tunbridge Wells called Drywells Action, said: “Water is a human right and we are not being afforded this fundamental human right.”
The 58-year-old is aiming to hold a public meeting and secure an independent audit of the infrastructure at Tunbridge Wells and the reservoir that serves it.
He claimed that SEW had “routinely failed” and that a decision needed to be made about what needed to be modernized to ensure Kent had a fit-for-purpose water system in the next few decades.
“We are beyond disgusted with Tunbridge Wells as SEW is no longer investing in ensuring the infrastructure is fit for purpose and we have lost confidence in their ability to keep their heads above water in the only job they now have – delivering water to our community,” he said.
He emphasized that the government must have a contingency plan to provide alternatives. He suggested it could be a different water company or military pumps, but the region needed “external action” or nothing would change.
South East Water incident manager Steve Andrews said: “We are very sorry to all our customers in Kent and Sussex who have experienced issues with their water supply. Our focus is entirely on returning supplies to our customers as quickly as possible.
“We are seeing an increase in leaks and burst water mains around our supply area since the last freeze thaw, but we have prepared for this by having extra technicians in Kent and Sussex, finding and fixing leaks and prioritizing repairs.
“Our priority is to improve South East Water in the future. We are strategically focused on our business plan and committed to delivering the infrastructure investment required. This will increase our resilience as we face the challenges of climate change and population growth.”
Water minister Emma Hardy said these latest shortages showed why the government was prioritizing infrastructure investment.
He said: “This is completely unacceptable. I held meetings with water companies and local resilience forums over the weekend and am meeting with them again today to restore supplies as quickly as possible, prioritizing vulnerable customers and essential utilities.
“This government action means compensation rates have increased for customers and businesses affected by the outage. It highlights why this government is prioritizing infrastructure investment to improve the resilience of our water system.”
An Ofwat spokesman said: “We are concerned that residents in Kent and Sussex could be left without water again and are working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the lead regulator of this latest supply disruption, to ensure regulation and enforcement are compliant.
“Ofwat currently has an active investigation into South East Water’s supply flexibility and we have met with the company as part of this investigation to discuss these recent events.
“We will review all the evidence before making a decision as to what further action may be required, including further potential enforcement action, regarding whether the company has met its legal obligations set out in its license in relation to customer service.”
