Kent Water Crisis: Residents In Fury As South East Water Fails To Salvage Water Supply Disruption

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]They say that they prepared for this.

[00:00:01]They say, you know, we put pumped extra water into the system once they knew, you know, we were going to have this heatwave, but it's just not been enough.

[00:00:08]Um and, you know, they say they're working 24/7 to pump more water in, but, you know, we've still got it's about 12,000 homes um as of this morning that uh still don't have water.

[00:00:19]>> Thousands of people in Kent have been hit with disruptions to their water supply since Wednesday evening.

[00:00:24]Southeast Water blamed shortages on this week's heatwave and asked the public to only use tap water for essential purposes like bathing and drinking.

[00:00:33]Millie Bowles is a reporter at Kent Online. She joins me now. Welcome to the show.

[00:00:38]>> Hello.

[00:00:39]>> What part of parts of Kent are worst affected, Millie?

[00:00:43]>> So, uh there's lots of areas that are affected. Um one of the worst affected areas are Whitstable and Herne Bay, but um there's also rural communities near Maidstone, um near Ashford that have been affected. Um and it's a kind of patches around the county, really.

[00:01:02]>> And how long are we expecting this uh disruption to carry on for?

[00:01:06]>> So, some people have been without water for 4 days now. Um there's not a clear time when everywhere is going to be sort of back to normal, but um some people are expected to have water back later today. Some they say it's going to continue into the weekend.

[00:01:22]>> And Southeast uh Water is not very popular. So, this presumably has not enhanced them uh in terms of uh their reputation in Kent.

[00:01:32]>> No, absolutely not. Um we've had plenty of problems um from Southeast Water in the past.

[00:01:38]Um in Tunbridge Wells, there were people without water for like over a week um earlier this year, I believe. Um so, they're not very popular in the county, and this has only added to the grief, really.

[00:01:49]>> And is there something sort of fundamental about what's going on here?

[00:01:53]Does Southeast Water need to build better infrastructure? Is it having to bring in water tankers to help the beleaguered residents of Kent?

[00:02:02]>> Well, that is what people say. Business owners especially, they're really, really frustrated with this. They say that they've not done any forward planning and they've not invested enough in that infrastructure.

[00:02:14]But, you know, housing's also an issue that's come up a lot from people.

[00:02:18]There's a lot more houses planned in the area over the coming years and sort of decades.

[00:02:24]And there's, you know, the question of whether the water system can cope.

[00:02:29]>> Yeah, it's a very good point that actually, given that there is such a huge focus on building more houses, particularly in the south, about getting the infrastructure needed to support those houses cuz it's just not there in Kent at the moment, is it?

[00:02:45]>> Well, it would appear not, no. I mean, they they say that they've prepared for this. They say, you know, we put pumped extra water into the system once they knew, you know, we were going to have this heatwave. But it's just not been enough.

[00:02:56]And, you know, they say they're working 24/7 to pump more water in, but, you know, we've still got it's about 12,000 homes as of this morning that are still don't have water.

[00:03:07]>> And they have no water at all. It's not just a question of using their taps infrequently. They literally don't have any water. They can't flush the loo.

[00:03:14]>> Well, it's different in different areas.

[00:03:17]Some areas it's low pressure or like trickling or it's intermittent, it's on and off. But others particularly in Whitstable have had absolutely nothing for maybe 3 days. All the businesses in the high street had to close. And during, you know, a half term after a long winter, they've all had to shut.

[00:03:35]So, you know, it's really frustrating for them.

[00:03:37]>> Wow, businesses shutting down entirely.

[00:03:39]Stuart Texan say we are Old Wives Lees.

[00:03:42]I'm not sure whether that's a pub or a village near Canterbury. We were without water for a lot of Sunday last week, but thankfully it was sorted by the end of the day at least. So, there you go. A real water crisis going on in Kent partly as a result of the heatwave, but the water companies obviously highly controversial companies. Are they building the infrastructure we need for our water supply? That's Millie Bowles, a reporter at Kent Online, who has come on to talk about the water shortage that is happening in Kent.