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A water treatment centre that failed and led to tens of thousands of people in Tunbridge Wells being cut off from the supply had previously been served a warning by the regulator over bacteria and pesticide contamination risks.
The Kent town is under a boil water notice after residents’ water supplies were cut on Saturday. South East Water has told residents the water from their taps is unsuitable for drinking, giving to pets, brushing teeth, washing children , or bathing in with an open wound.
The notice is in place for at least 10 days because of what the company describes as “water quality issues”.
Schools, restaurants, pubs and hotels across the town have been forced to shut all week because of a lack of clean running water. GP surgeries have also struggled to obtain water supplies.
An investigation into the cause of the contamination has been launched by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) relating to Pembury treatment works.
Last year, the watchdog warned: “There is or has been a significant risk of supplying water from Pembury water treatment works (and associated assets as applicable) that could constitute a potential danger to human health or could be unwholesome.” It called for urgent upgrades to the facilities, including water tanks and sludge lagoons, to avoid contamination into the tap water supply from pesticides, E coli, Enterococci and Clostridium bacteria.
The water company could face legal and enforcement proceedings if it is found to have been negligent in its upkeep of the treatment centre.
South East Water has been on the brink of financial collapse, a fate threatening multiple other water companies. Earlier this year it had to ask for a £200m cash injection from its investors after being put on a watchlist by the regulator Ofwat over its financial health.
A DWI spokesperson said: “The inspectorate is aware of an ongoing incident in the Tunbridge Wells area. The company is taking steps to return supplies to normal. The inspectorate is investigating the event to understand the cause and to make sure the company puts measures in place to protect consumers and prevent recurrence. As this is a live investigation, and the inspectorate has powers to bring forward enforcement action or legal proceedings should there be sufficient evidence, we are not able to comment further at this stage.”
Other water companies face similar issues with their ageing infrastructure. Campaigners have accused companies of “sweating assets” and giving money in dividends to shareholders rather than investing in treatment centres, sewers and reservoirs.
Thames Water’s Coppermills treatment works has been identified as a critical “single point of failure” that could cause a water outage for more than 500,000 people if it fails.
And last summer, dozens of people were made sick after the parasite cryptosporidium was found in the water supply in Brixham, Devon. More than 140 people were confirmed to have had the diarrhoea-type disease, which also causes stomach pains and vomiting, typically lasting for about two weeks. Four people were taken to hospital at the time.
David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, who has faced calls for his resignation over the situation in Tunbridge Wells, was called into a meeting with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday.
The water minister, Emma Hardy, said: “I have spoken to [Hinton] this morning and made clear that the continued disruption to water supplies is unacceptable. The DWI will undertake a full investigation into what caused this incident and why it’s taken so long to restore supply to customers.”
Neil Hudson, head of water quality at South East Water, said people should not drink the water. He told the BBC: “Any sort of normal, healthy individual will probably see no impacts whatsoever [if water is accidentally ingested]. If anyone drinks the water and starts to feel unwell, our advice would be to speak to your GP.”
He declined to give a date for when clean water would once again run from taps: “We don’t want to give false hope that it’s going to be over in a short period of time,” he said.
South East Water has been contacted for comment.
