South East Water Says Improvements Under Way To Prevent Future Supply Disruption

South East Water says it has made progress in reducing the risk of future water supply issues and improving support for customers during service interruptions.

The company says it has recruited more staff to help both prevent disruption and strengthen its response when incidents occur.

Final testing is now taking place at the Bewl Water Treatment Works, with South East Water saying the upgrades will provide additional supply capacity for around 46,000 customers in the Tunbridge Wells and Crowborough areas.

The update comes after chief executive David Hinton and chairman Chris Train stepped down earlier this month following criticism in a report from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

The report described the company’s leadership as an “unaccountable clique” and said management had failed to address “multiple and ongoing failures”.

Around 24,000 customers across Kent and East Sussex experienced supply disruption in November and December, which South East Water said was linked to an issue at a treatment works.

Weeks later, up to 30,000 households were affected by further disruption lasting several days. Residents reported being unable to shower, wash dishes, flush toilets or do laundry.

At the time, South East Water said cold weather and Storm Goretti had contributed to the problems.

Customer bills also rose by 7% from April, with the average annual bill increasing from £303 to £324 for 2026/27.

In its latest update, South East Water says it has completed a review of its water treatment works, producing a list of improvement measures intended to ensure lessons are learned from previous incidents.

The company has also signed a new contract with Water Direct to improve support for vulnerable customers on its priority services register.

It has additionally developed an internal app for bottled water stations, which it says will help teams predict when supplies need restocking and allow for a faster response.

Douglas Whitfield, South East Water’s water supply director, said:

“Today’s update demonstrates our commitment to learning from incidents and making lasting improvements to our operations.”