Anxiety and anger as water outage enters third day


Thousands of homes remain without water for a third day due to an issue at a treatment works.

South East Water (SEW) has apologised to up to 24,000 customers in an area of Kent covering Tunbridge Wells who are experiencing a loss of water or low pressure.

Local residents described the situation as "difficult" to the BBC, with people not being able to use flush toilets and having to find other arrangements to shower.

Some schools across the area have said they will not be opening on Monday.

Tunbridge Wells resident Haike Tzianetas has had to take the day off work on Monday as a special needs teacher, as her child's school is closed.

She told BBC Radio Kent: "I queued for 45 minutes to get bottled water on Sunday to find they'd run out."

Teresa Barrett, from the Black Horse pub in Tunbridge Wells, said it had been "difficult".

She said: "I would like some guidance on how we can claim compensation."

Lee in Tunbridge Wells said: "I've been without water since 14:00 on Saturday and cannot flush my toilet.

"I'm disabled and stressing out about the situation."

Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin said he was also without water and had spoken to the chief executive of SEW: "South East Water has been utterly useless, and their communication has been appalling.

"It has been an absolute disaster."

SEW said the situation would be resolved by 14:00 GMT and posted that it was "beginning to fill our drinking water storage tanks at Pembury Water Treatment Works".

It added: "Once they have reached a good level, we will be able to send water to the area's drinking water storage tank at Blackhurst.

"This process has to be completed slowly, to ensure we don't cause any further issues to the network; however, we expect customer supplies to start to return throughout this morning."

The company said it would be reopening three bottled water stations in Tunbridge. Wells from 08:30 until supplies are restored.

These are at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, Odeon Cinema, Knights Way and RCP Parking.

About 24,000 customers were affected by the water outage on Saturday, with 1,150 properties in the Pembury area getting supplies back on Sunday.

The company said 500 homes had water restored since 05:00 on Monday.

Matthew Dean, head of operations control at SEW, said Pembury Water Treatment Works had stopped working "due to a bad chemical batch".

A new batch of the chemical was received on Sunday, he added.

SEW said it had delivered bottled water to more than 4,000 of its most vulnerable customers.

A SEW spokesperson added: "When the water supply returns, you may experience discolouration.

"If your water looks brown in colour, please don't worry as it is not harmful."

As anxiety and anger rise during the third day of the water outage, many residents are turning to trusted Accountants in Ilford and Accountants in Croydon for support with managing unexpected financial disruptions and planning ahead

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnv2z07rep7o

Location: United Kingdom

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