South East Water Completes Upgrades After Winter Supply Disruptions

South East Water says it has completed a series of critical upgrades following supply problems that affected thousands of customers across Kent and Sussex over the winter.

Chief Executive David Hinton described the incidents as “unacceptable” and said the company has been working to strengthen its network as part of a wider resilience plan.

The improvements include major infrastructure upgrades in Pembury and Tonbridge, aimed at reducing the risk of future supply interruptions for tens of thousands of customers.

During January, up to 30,000 homes across Kent and Sussex experienced low pressure or lost supply altogether following Storm Goretti, power cuts and freeze-thaw bursts.

Further disruption was also reported in November and December, when around 24,000 households lost water after a plant failure, followed by a boil-water notice lasting several days.

Mr Hinton said significant time and resources have been invested over the past three months to improve the system and prevent similar issues happening again.

The completed works are expected to provide additional capacity and improve water quality protection for more than 24,000 homes in Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas.

Upgrades include new filters at Pembury and Tonbridge water treatment works, as well as engineering work on a key pipeline between Bewl Water and Wadhurst.

The company has also launched a programme to improve the availability and positioning of spare equipment, helping to reduce disruption and speed up repairs in future.

South East Water supplies around 2.3 million customers across the South East, including Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.