Supply ‘too reliant’ on one asset, says South East Water boss

Fiona Irving,South East setting correspondentandCraig Buchan,South EastBBCSouth East Water chief govt David Hinton has confronted calls to resign over provide issuesThe boss of South East Water has stated the corporate is just too dependant on particular person services after a six-day provide failure affected 1000’s of individuals in Kent.About 24,000 properties in and round Tunbridge Wells had no or low stress faucet water from 29 November till provides returned to most on 4 December. For the subsequent 9 days, residents have been advised to boil the restored faucet water earlier than consumption.A disinfection downside at Pembury Water Remedy Works had brought on the failure however there was no proof provide grew to become contaminated, stated South East Water.The water firm’s chief govt, David Hinton, stated the agency was “simply too reliant in some areas on one asset”.Mr Hinton was talking to the BBC earlier within the week and stated the corporate desires to “do extra” at a separate works at Bewl Water reservoir, close to Wadhurst in East Sussex, and spend £30m on increasing output capability.The proposal would give the corporate the flexibility to “quickly fill the realm of Tunbridge Wells, for instance, as quickly as we see any difficulty”, stated Mr Hinton.He stated this could enable “additional resilience ought to every other challenges hit every other remedy works” with out additional draining the reservoir.”It isn’t just for Tunbridge Wells, it is for the broader elements of Kent as properly,” added the chief govt, who has confronted calls to resign over the provision points.’It isn’t good, it is by no means good’South East Water was considered one of 5 corporations to contest regulator Ofwat’s newest worth controls, which already allowed it to extend a median annual invoice from £232 to £274 by 2030.The companies argued the 36% common worth improve for patrons in England over the subsequent 5 years was not sufficient to ship higher infrastructure.The Competitors and Markets Authority has provisionally agreed that South East Water can improve payments by an additional 4%, pending a last determination in 2026.Mr Hinton stated the Bewl Water proposal was a motive why the corporate was asking the competitors regulator to permit it to boost more cash from clients.South East Water suspects “one thing to do with the extent” of water at its Pembury reservoir contributed to the provision failure however the agency desires to “do a full investigation”, he stated.The corporate launched hosepipe restrictions in July for Kent and Sussex clients after dry climate earlier in 2025.The Consuming Water Inspectorate stated it was investigating the Tunbridge Wells lack of provide incident.