24,000 Homes Hit By Fresh Water Woes Across East Sussex And Kent

Thousands of households across East Sussex and neighbouring Kent are once again without usable tap water, after South East Water confirmed a new “water quality issue” on Wednesday.

Around 24,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Frant and Eridge were affected over the weekend when a fault at the Pembury treatment works caused taps to run dry.

Supplies were partially restored on Tuesday, but the company says the problem has returned after further water quality checks failed.

South East Water has issued a boil water notice for all affected homes.

Residents are being told not to drink or cook with tap water unless it has been boiled.

Tap water can still be used for flushing toilets and showering.

The company says it is working to restore safe drinking water as soon as possible.

Three bottled water stations will stay open until 10pm on Wednesday at:

• Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, St John’s Road

• RCP Car Park, Tunbridge Wells

• Odeon Cinema, Knights Way

Some schools in the affected areas have closed, and residents continue to rely on bottled water and support from neighbours while engineers work to fix the issue.