Good morning,
We are pleased to confirm drinking water has returned for all customers impacted by the water supply interruptions in Kent caused by exceptionally high demand in the period of hot weather.
We are aware of a separate isolated technical issue affecting our pumping capacity in the Radfall area of Whitstable, which has resulted in some intermittent customer supplies. We are delivering bottled water to those properties affected, and will continue to do so until we have resolved the issue.
Although all customers who have experienced issues as a result of the recent hot weather are back in supply, the levels of drinking water in our storage tanks across the region remain low.
Despite the weather cooling, we are asking customers to use water for essential purposes only – drinking, cooking, and hygiene, to aid the recovery of levels in our drinking water storage tanks.
We are still using our fleet of tankers to support the network and aid recovery further.
We would like to say again how deeply sorry we are to our customers for any disruption to their water supply and know how frustrating it is, especially in the recent hot weather.
Return to normal operations
We are currently repairing a number of leaks and burst pipes across our network, which may be causing local supply interruptions. This is part of our routine daily operations, and our teams are working quickly to resolve them.
As previously mentioned, a technical issue is impacting a number of properties in Radfall, this is an isolated problem unrelated to the demand-led supply issues seen in recent weeks. Our teams are working hard to resolve this problem as soon as possible.
Phone lines today
Our phone lines are open as normal.
If any vulnerable customers need to contact us to request water, they should call us on 0800 952 4000.
Alternative water
We are no longer proactively delivering bottled water to those on our PSR list who have been without water as a result of the demand-led supply issue. However, we will react if localised issues occur. If a vulnerable customer is experiencing a localised issue, they should call us on: 0800 952 4000.
We have carried out over 26,500 deliveries of bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register and also delivered more than 366,000 litres of water to critical care settings such as care homes, GP surgeries, pharmacies, dentists and schools.
All hospitals, care homes and schools are in supply.
We will not be opening any bottled water stations today (Thursday, 4 June) as all customers impacted by outages are back in supply.
What have we been doing?
We planned for the hot weather by increasing output at our water treatment works across our supply area and putting extra water into the network. All our available water treatment works are currently working at full capacity.
We have also given out almost 1.2 million litres of water at our bottled water stations across Kent.
We have been working 24/7 with our fleet of tankers to support our network where demand has been extremely high. We have tankered over 3.45 million litres of water into the network.
In addition we have had some leaks and bursts, while this is normal for a network of 9,000 miles of pipework and 6 million joints, we have increased our teams who are out finding and fixing leaks.
Further advice
Bogus letters and notices
We’re aware that there are a number of letters and notices being placed on social media and through letterboxes pretending to be from South East Water which are providing incorrect information.
To be clear, these notices are not from South East Water or Southern Water. Please ignore them. Customers should only follow information which is placed on our website and social media channels.
Customer letters
We will shortly be writing to all customers affected to make them aware of the next steps.
Compensation
We are truly sorry for the impact this situation has had on residents and businesses in parts of Kent and Sussex where there have been water supply issues during the hot weather over the past week.
We abide by our Guaranteed Standards of Service (GSS) and we are fully committed to compensating our customers and businesses fairly for this disruption. We want to ensure that every single customer and business receives exactly what they are entitled to. Customers and businesses can view and download the up-to-date GSS guidance here.
For business customers, any compensation that is paid by South East Water will go to their water retailer. It is the retailer’s responsibility to apply this to their account.
Water reduction
Although the weather has cooled this week our system is still recovering so we’re continuing to encourage customers to:
Stop using jet washes, hosepipes and sprinklers. Swap paddling pools for water blasters to keep kids cool and the car and patio can wait for a wash.
Think about where you can swap tap water for recycled water. Reuse water from baths, showers and sinks in the garden.
Act now, please do all you can to cut down on everything but essential water use, which is drinking, cooking and hygiene.
Once again, we are sorry to customers who have had interruptions or low pressure in their water supply. We will continue to do all we can to prevent and resolve the issues.
As all customers impacted by the water supply interruptions in Kent, caused by exceptionally high demand in the period of hot weather, are back in supply, this will be our final update unless the situation changes.