LONDON, Jan 10, 2026, 06:30 GMT
- South East Water says burst pipes have left some Tunbridge Wells customers with intermittent water, with supplies not expected to fully stabilise until Jan. 13
- Storm Goretti disrupted recovery work and knocked out parts of the firm’s treatment network, the company says
- MPs are seeking clarification over the company’s account of last month’s longer outage and warning against misleading testimony
South East Water said on Friday it expects to restore water supplies in Tunbridge Wells by Tuesday after recent pipe bursts left some customers facing low pressure or no water, even as repairs continued across the network. The company said the water “remains safe to use as normal” and stressed the latest disruption is separate from the earlier boil water notice. 1
The Kent town is still jittery after last month’s crisis, when about 24,000 homes were without drinking water for roughly two weeks. This week’s problems hit as cold weather drove a “series of burst water mains”, and local MP Mike Martin said he expected supplies to stay patchy — “intermittent for a few days” — as leaks drained local storage. 2
Politics is now sitting on top of the engineering. The chair of Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Alistair Carmichael, wrote to South East Water chair Chris Train seeking clarity on evidence given by the firm’s leadership, warning that inaccurate or misleading statements could be treated as a contempt of Parliament. Carmichael said there were “issues of corporate governance that likely warrant public scrutiny”, and asked for a written response by Jan. 12. 3
South East Water blamed Storm Goretti for slowing recovery work on Friday, saying the storm caused outages at several water treatment works across Kent and Sussex and left customers facing fresh swings in pressure. Incident manager Mike Court said: “Customers will experience no water and intermittent supplies later today” as demand outstrips what the company can pump into the system. 4
In evidence to MPs earlier this week, chief executive David Hinton said Tunbridge Wells was “reliant on one single source” of supply and that the company had sought £300 million of resilience spending, including work linked to the town’s network. Hinton also told lawmakers South East Water runs a similar number of treatment works to bigger peer Thames Water, despite serving far fewer customers.
The drinking water regulator, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, has been blunt about the earlier failure. Chief inspector Marcus Rink told MPs the company’s response “was not adequate” and warned the regulator’s report “will not be pretty reading.”
“Boosters” are pumps that push water up to higher ground; when storage tanks drop, pressure can vanish quickly at the end of a network. The company’s Priority Services Register covers customers who need extra support, including some vulnerable people who may need bottled water deliveries during interruptions.
But the near-term risk is still mechanical and meteorological. More storm damage, further bursts in freezing-and-thawing streets, or another surge in demand can knock repaired areas back into low pressure, stretching crews and keeping bottled-water stations in play.
South East Water says it is repairing bursts, refilling local tanks and delivering bottled water where needed. MPs, meanwhile, are waiting for the company’s board chair to respond next week as the committee weighs whether to call the leadership back in public.
