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South East Water has issued a ‘boil water notice’ for homes in and around Tunbridge Wells who have been without water since Saturday evening.
Stanley Murphy-JohnsWednesday 03 December 2025 16:35 GMT
open image in galleryBottled water is handed out in Tunbridge Wells (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)
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Water will be restored to thousands of homes in Kent after five days, but must be boiled before drinking, the water company has said.
South East Water (SEW) has issued a “boil water notice” for 24,000 homes in and around Tunbridge Wells, who have experienced a loss of water or low pressure since Saturday evening.
On Wednesday the company said the “water quality issues” which caused the initial shutdown had returned.
They have decided to continue pumping water so that people can flush their toilets and shower, but the water cannot be drunk without being boiled first.
Water will return to the 24,000 affected homes from midday, SEW said.
SEW’s head of water quality, Dr Neil Hudson, said: “We regularly test our network to make sure the water we provide is safe for you to drink.
“After recharging our network in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas slowly, we have seen a recurrence of the water quality issues that caused the initial shutdown of our water treatment works in Pembury.
“Because of this, we are currently unable to produce drinking water from the Pembury treatment works that meets the strict regulatory standards required for consumption.
“We understand many customers have been without water for a number of days, causing issues with basic public health functions such as flushing the toilet or showering.
“We have therefore taken the decision to pump water from our treatment works into the network, which can be used for flushing toilets or showering, but crucially cannot be used for drinking without boiling first.”
The company apologised again to the thousands of customers who have gone days without water.
The incident began on the evening of November 29, because of a “bad” batch of chemicals at the Pembury water treatment works.
Three bottled water stations opened across Tunbridge Wells by the company will remain open until 10pm.
They are at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, Odeon Cinema, Knights Way and RCP Parking.
Some people have opened their homes and businesses to help those worst affected.
One Tunbridge Wells resident, Darren Carpenter, said he was “angry” with SEW over “broken promises” and the salaries of their leaders, but had “hope” after seeing his neighbours supporting each other.
He said he had “no hope that things will change, greed is driving this society to the brink of collapse but the wealthy have no vested interest”.
Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin told the BBC it had been “a total failure of leadership” and has called for the chief executive of SEW, Dave Hinton, to resign.
SEW has said a map and list of postcodes affected is available on their website.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer dodged calls to convene a Cobra meeting and “get a grip of this crisis” from Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems.
Sir Keir described the situation in Kent as “shocking”, adding: “I too have heard South East Water say that they were sorting it, and they still haven’t.
“And there’s really serious consequences, and we are bearing down on that because it’s such a serious issue.”
The Consumer Council for Water (CCW), an independent body representing water consumers across England and Wales, has called for a thorough investigation into this incident.
CCW chief executive Mike Keil said: “While we understand this is a complex incident, there should be a thorough investigation into how it has been handled and we want to be involved from the outset.
“Customers in and around Tunbridge Wells have seen their water bills rise significantly this year and in return they expect to see the service improve – not get worse.”
