Regulator ‘concerned’ as 23,000 homes still without water after ‘major incident’ declared

Tuesday 13 January 2026 | 21:57, UK

The water regulator has raised concerns after around 23,000 properties across Kent and Sussex were left without water, a day after a major incident was declared in the two counties.

Many residents entered a fourth day without supply, following fresh outages overnight between Friday and Saturday. South East Water (SEW) said the latest disruption was caused by Storm Goretti, which triggered power cuts and burst pipes.

SEW confirmed on Tuesday that water supplies had been restored to Loose in Maidstone, Blean near Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and parts of Tunbridge Wells. The company also said drinking water had been returned to 2,000 properties in East Grinstead, with a further 3,000 expected to be reconnected by Wednesday morning. Work is continuing to restore supplies to the remaining 11,500 affected homes.

After issuing another apology, SEW said its teams were “working around the clock” to repair leaks and bursts across the region.

The water watchdog, Ofwat, said it would review all available evidence before deciding whether SEW has met its legal obligations to customers. An Ofwat spokesperson said the regulator was “concerned” about the repeated outages and was working closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which is leading oversight of the latest disruption.

SEW said it carried out 5,700 bottled water deliveries over the weekend and continues to supply vulnerable customers on its Priority Services Register. Bottled water stations remain in place in Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead and Maidstone.

Meanwhile, senior executives at South East Water have been recalled to appear before MPs over a separate water outage in December that left around 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells without running water for several days and without drinkable water for almost two weeks.

Alistair Carmichael, chair of the Parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said MPs remained “deeply sceptical” about the company’s account of the earlier supply failure. He said the committee had recalled SEW chief executive David Hinton and chair Chris Train after they disputed evidence from the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

Although SEW has announced a further independent review into the December incident, Mr Carmichael questioned its independence and accused the company of “buying time”.

A South East Water spokesperson said the company had fully complied with requests for information from the committee and would continue to do so, including attending further meetings if required.

The latest outages have affected Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Whitstable, parts of West Sussex and surrounding areas. Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran declared a major incident on Monday morning, saying more households had been impacted within a 24-hour period. Several schools in Kent and Sussex were forced to close at the start of the week.

SEW said Storm Goretti had affected its ability to treat raw water at its main Sussex treatment works, while freezing temperatures led to a surge in burst water mains, significantly reducing drinking water storage levels.

SEW incident manager Matthew Dean apologised to customers, saying around 23,000 households were experiencing no water, intermittent supply or low pressure.

“We are using 26 tankers to pump water directly into our network and our leak repair teams are working around the clock, with extra resources deployed to carry out repairs,” he said.

He added that hospitals were being supported with tankers, while bottled water was being provided to care homes, schools, medical facilities and livestock owners.

Ofwat said its ongoing investigation into South East Water’s supply resilience would now take into account the latest incidents, and warned that further enforcement action could follow if the company is found to have breached its customer care obligations.