Tens of thousands of residents in South East England are facing water shortages in what Kent County Council has declared as a major incident.
South East Water (SEW)’s Incident Manager Matthew Dean told the Standard that approximately 25,000 homes across Kent and Sussex remain impacted.
SEW said Storm Goretti, which swept across the UK last week, disrupted its ability to process water at the usual rate at its main Sussex treatment plant.
Coupled with burst pipes from freezing temperatures, this has left the region’s drinking water supplies running low.
SEW incident manager Matthew Dean apologised to customers in Kent and Sussex who are still facing water problems, including no supply, low pressure, or intermittent service.
The company added: “We’re very sorry to our customers across Kent and Sussex who continue to experience issues with their drinking water supply, including no water, intermittent supply interruptions or low pressure.
“Water supplies to Loose in Maidstone, Blean near Canterbury, Headcorn, West Kingsdown and parts of Tunbridge Wells have been restored.
“Drinking water to the 16,500 properties in East Grinstead will begin to be restored today with full supplies expected to be restored tomorrow afternoon. This is because of the vast network of pipes, which need to be carefully filled to avoid creating bursts which would delay restoration.”
According to the official website, these areas are still without water as of Tuesday morning:
- Victoria Gardens, Burgess Hill, West Sussex
- Tunbridge Wells, Kent
- Amsbury Road, Coxheath, Maidstone, Kent
- Yopps Green, Plaxtol, Sevenoaks, Kent
- Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
- Harbledown, Blean, Canterbury, Kent & surrounding areas
- Loose and surrounding areas
- Hollingbourne, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Kingswood, Sutton Valence and surrounding areas
- East Grinstead and surrounding areas
- Radfall Road, Whitstable, Kent
- Marden, Tonbridge, Kent
- Brickfield Lane, Boughton-under-Blean, Faversham, Kent
Mr Dean said the company is deploying 26 tankers to pump water directly into the network while repair teams work around the clock to fix leaks and bursts, with extra staff on hand to speed up repairs.
Bottled water is being delivered to customers who are most in need on the Priority Services Register.
Additionally, councils have set up five bottled water stations open until 10pm today (Tuesday) at the following locations:
- East Grinstead Sports Club, Saint Hill Road, East Grinstead, RH19 4JU
- Kings Centre, Moat Road, East Grinstead, RH19 3LN
- East Court, College Lane, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 3LT
- Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club, St. Marks Recreation Ground, Tunbridge Wells TN2 5LS
- Mote Park Leisure Centre, Mote Park, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
SEW’s track record and Government response
In 2023, South East Water was identified as the worst company in the UK for supply interruptions, and since then it has faced several high-profile outages.
The most recent occurred in December 2025, when 24,000 residents in Tunbridge Wells went days without water following a “water quality issue” at the Pembury Water Treatment Works.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Water Minister Emma Hardy said the Government is “holding South East Water to account.”
She added: “The supply issues in Kent and Sussex have been caused by a number of short-term factors… however, the disruption in the South East comes against a backdrop of previous outages and continued poor performance from South East Water in maintaining a reliable performance for its customers.”
Earlier this month, SEW chief executive David Hinton faced criticism from MPs for what they described as a “fundamentally lacking” human response during a hearing of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
One member of the committee said they were “quite shocked” by the “lack of accountability” shown by Mr Hinton, even though he opened the session with an apology to customers.
Mr Hinton attributed the problems to insufficient infrastructure in the South East and warned that such risks are “inevitable” without further investment.