More than 5,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells are experiencing water supply problems after a technical fault at a South East Water treatment works disrupted drinking water supplies.
South East Water said the issue affected water levels in its storage tanks, preventing supplies from being pumped across parts of the Kent town, particularly to properties in higher areas.
The disruption is the latest in a series of water supply failures affecting customers across Kent and Sussex in recent months, prompting criticism from regulators and local politicians.
Earlier this week, the company apologised after water regulator Ofwat ordered it to invest £30.5 million in improvements following repeated failures to meet customer service standards.
South East Water Incident Manager Robert Anthony-Scorse said the latest outage was caused by “a technical issue at our water treatment works in the area”.
He said around 5,600 properties could be affected, “including low pressure, intermittent supply or no water.”
“We’re working hard to resolve the issue as soon as possible. The site is in operation again and we are working hard to increase the storage levels to get the booster pumps back up and running,” he said.
“We are using tankers to increase drinking water storage levels to help support the affected areas.”
Anthony-Scorse added that bottled water was being delivered to customers on the company’s priority services register.
“We’re also working to set up bottled water stations in the Tunbridge Wells area,” he said.
The company said it would announce the locations of the bottled water stations once they are ready.
The latest disruption comes just weeks after Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat described South East Water as the “worst-run company I’ve ever come across” following a series of supply failures.