Past water supply issues in Kent and Sussexpublished at 09:02 BST
09:02 BST
Fiona Irving
Environment correspondent, South East
Image source, PA Media
David Hinton was last in front of this select committee in January.
Back then he was giving an account to MPs of problems at Pembury Water Treatment Works in December which left 24,000 homes and businesses in the Tunbridge Wells area without drinking water – some for two weeks.
Less than 24 hours after that hearing, South East Water customers faced more water supply misery when the taps ran dry again.
This time 30,000 properties across Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Maidstone, Whitstable and Canterbury were affected. “It’s a bit like Armageddon,” said Sarah Wilmot, a shop owner in East Grinstead who could not open due to the supply issues
The water company said freeze-thaw conditions led to multiple pipes bursting, while Storm Goretti led to power outages and problems with the quality of the raw water at treatment works.
Those two incidents were by no means isolated; there have been a series of supply failures by South East Water over the past six years.
Last month the regulator Ofwat proposed a £22m fine for the water company after its investigation into a series of supply failures between 2020 and 2023 which affected more than 286,000 people.