Despite South East Water bosses’ claim they have restored water to most homes in Kent and Sussex, residents are raging as they can barely get a drip out of their taps due to a new ‘low pressure’ issue.
Water bosses have been branded “useless drips” as taps are barely dripping following their claim they had sorted supply chaos that plunged thousands of homes into drought chaos.
Scandal-hit South East Water today bragged it has fixed the outage that first hit homes and business across swathes of Kent and Sussex last Saturday, leaving business and hospitals in crisis, schools shut and bill hike-hit residents fuming.
At the height of the incident, the company admitted 30,000 customers across the two counties were without water, or experiencing low water pressure. South East Water’s incident manager Mathew Dean on Friday (January 16) insisted full supplies had been restored to the 6,500 affected properties in Tunbridge Wells area.
But householders have branded the firm “useless liars” after they could barely get a drip out of their taps. The company sent some residents a text alert that said “a pressure issue” had left them “unable to pump” water.
It added: “You may therefore be experiencing no water or low water pressure.”
Mr Dean admitted customers could be hit by low pressure as the water levels built up in the pipeline network.
But he added: “Continuous supplies have been restored to the town after we implemented our recovery plan which involved keeping local booster pumps switched off for 36 hours so our drinking water storage tank could fill. We are very sorry to every single one of our customers who have been affected. We know and understand how difficult going without water for such a long period of time is and how difficult it makes everyday life.”
One resident fumed: “This company are a bunch of useless drips, and we won’t be paying a penny until we get our supply restored – and compensation.”
Social media is flooded with abuse against the boss, with one outraged critic ranting: “CEO of South East Water. About as useful as a lawnmower in a monsoon.”
It has been reported that by Thursday water had finally been restored to 16,500 properties in East Grinstead. But early on Friday, around 7,500 customers in Kent said they remained without water.
Tunbridge Wells was also struck with a sustained outage in November and December. It saw about 24,000 properties in and around Kent town left without drinkable supplies for roughly a fortnight.
South East Water said it was supporting schools, care homes, medical providers, and those with livestock with bottled water deliveries amid the ongoing crisis, as well as supporting hospitals with tankers.
But South East Water’s drippy boss David Hinton is still facing calls to be fired after it emerged he’s set for a £400,000 bonus despite overseeing the disaster. Mr Hinton has headed South East Water since 2020 and was recently been hauled before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in Parliament over supply shortages.
MPs have lined up to demand he surrenders his financial bonus for the financial year. Mike Martin, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, was among the politicians who have lashed him over his massive wages.
He raged: “Dave Hinton’s salary and bonuses are wild. He should be ashamed. Try giving us water first, then let’s talk about the money.”
The Daily Star has contacted South East Water for further comment on the ongoing supply issues and “low water pressure”.
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