Residents of Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas are enduring a severe and repeated water crisis, with more than 30,000 homes across Sussex and Kent spending up to six days without a reliable supply. This marks the second major outage in a matter of weeks, leaving communities frustrated and businesses on the brink.
Groundhog Day for Frustrated Communities
The current disruption, which began following recent freezing weather, has been blamed by South East Water on a surge of leaks in its ageing pipe network. For many, it feels like a cruel replay of late November, when 24,000 households were left without water for two weeks after a local treatment centre shut down. The Drinking Water Inspectorate later stated that outage was foreseen due to a lack of maintenance.
"Sometimes the water comes on for an hour or two in the mornings. Sometimes too late for my wife to shower before she goes to work," said local resident Gary, who has faced intermittent supply for a week. "And without being too disgusting, our toilet is currently full."
Businesses Suffer and Public Anger Grows
The human and economic impact is stark. Schools have been forced to close, and struggling hospitality businesses have shut their doors. The Bull pub in the Forest Road area, which says its future is on "thin ice," was empty on Tuesday with a sign blaming the closure on having no water.
Public anger is increasingly directed at South East Water's leadership, specifically Chief Executive Dave Hinton. His £400,000 base salary and £115,000 bonus last year have become a focal point for criticism. Hinton recently told a parliamentary committee he avoided media interviews during the last crisis to prevent the focus shifting to his pay.
"It’s costing businesses fortunes worth of money, and he’s not really that apologetic about it, and he’s got quite a big bonus. He should be handing that back," said Scott Richardson, collecting bottled water after three days without supply.
Regulatory Scrutiny and Climate Warnings
The company's response is under intense scrutiny. While South East Water says its teams are working "around the clock" and blames a lack of bulk supply from a neighbour, its chair has written to MPs disputing the regulator's evidence on the previous outage, announcing an internal investigation.
Local Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin, who rushed back to the constituency, condemned the situation. "Vulnerable people are emailing in just terrible stories... It’s a real disaster not having water," he said.
Mike Keil of the Consumer Council for Water warned this shows how unprepared companies are for climate extremes. "If a company cannot deal with today’s weather, they are going to really struggle in the future," he told the BBC, calling for urgent infrastructure investment.
For now, residents like Kama Bass continue to cope with the grim reality. "I actually am getting stressed about the amount of plastic water bottles I am having to use," she said. "I don’t know how families are coping... It’s horrific."
