Tunbridge Wells

The previous plan to refill the network wasn't working fast enough. To fix this permanently, we need to let the storage tank refill to a much higher level. To do this, we must keep the pumps off to stop the water draining out. This allows us to build up enough pressure to restore a consistent supply from Friday morning.

The pumps have been turned off and we are expecting your supply to stabilise and return from Friday morning.

If you are unable to bring the delivery inside, our Customer Care Team will be in the area tomorrow morning (Thursday 15 Jan) to help. You can also call us on 0800 952 4000(opens in a new tab) from 8am to request assistance.

Yes. If you have mains water from your tap, it is safe to drink. The "Do not drink" warning applies only to the grab bags delivered to your door.

It's fine to use rainwater to flush toilets, but it should never be used for drinking, cooking with, or consuming at all.

We need locations with very large car parks to safely manage the flow of customer traffic and the heavy goods vehicles delivering the pallets. Smaller local car parks often cannot handle the logistics safely.

We prioritise bottled water stations because they are the most hygienic and efficient way to distribute water during an outage. Connecting standpipes to the mains can reduce pressure further (delaying the fix), and static bowsers can be difficult to keep sanitary.

If you have livestock and need extra water for your animals, please contact us and we'll do all we can to help. We may be able to provide a water bowser for the duration of this outage, which we will arrange to collect from you once your water supply has returned.

We have been working closely with schools affected by water supply interruptions in both Kent and Sussex, providing deliveries of bottled water and grab bags to enable as many schools as possible to remain open.

This is absolutely not true. The interruptions are down to physics; when the water storage tank drains too low, the pumps physically cannot push water through our pipes to your home, and therefore automatically shut down to avoid any damage. When the tank levels rise high enough, the pumps turn back on again.

We invest millions of pounds every year upgrading our network. However, the recent weather conditions involved a rapid “freeze” followed by a sudden “thaw”. This causes ground movement and snaps pipes regardless of their age. Sadly, this is a national issue, and water companies across the UK are currently facing similar challenges.

Water companies across the UK operate as a regional network. It is standard practice to share resources and move water between regions to ensure resilience. This is a planned part of how we manage water resources.

No. Tankering is a standard procedure to help “top up” the storage tanks when demand for water is high in certain areas. It helps the situation, it does not cause leaks or bursts.

You are right that mains are buried deep to prevent the water inside freezing. However, the issue isn’t always the water freezing; it is the ground around the pipe expanding and contracting due to the temperature changes. This shift in the ground puts immense pressure on the pipes and causes them to leak and burst.

We have formally declared this as a major incident. This allows us to work directly with the Local Resilience Forum (LRF), which includes the Police, Fire Service, Councils and Health Services, to coordinate the response. We are already utilising all available support.

David Hinton remains committed to resolving the immediate issues facing customers in both Kent and Sussex, whilst continuing to seek to obtain the investment to deliver the much needed improvements in resilience to the South East Water network, detailed in the company’s Business Plan.

Water companies have a statutory duty to connect new homes approved by local councils. However, we plan our water resources 50 years in advance to ensure we can meet this demand. The current issue is not a lack of water resources, but a failure caused by the recent weather conditions.

We are constantly replacing and upgrading ageing and damaged pipes. However, extreme freeze/thaw events are becoming more frequent. We are reviewing our winter resilience plans to see how we can better protect our network against these sharp temperature changes in the future.

It might seem contradictory to have hosepipe restrictions in place during wet or freezing weather, but the restrictions remain because our deep groundwater sources and reservoirs have not fully recovered from the summer drought. It takes months of sustained rainfall to refill these deep aquifers. If we lift the restrictions too early, we risk starting the spring with critically low water resources. We review this constantly and will remove the restrictions as soon as water levels are secure.