Committee publication · Correspondence · 5 December 2025
Correspondence to David Hinton, CEO, South East Water, regarding water outages in and around Tunbridge Wells, dated 3 December 2025
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Reforming the water sector
Summary
Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, writes to David Hinton, CEO of South East Water, expressing serious concern about a five-day water outage affecting Tunbridge Wells. The letter cites failures in infrastructure resilience, crisis management, bottled water distribution, and communications, noting this repeats problems identified by Ofwat in a 2023 statutory inquiry. The Chair requests detailed documentation on SEW's crisis management plan, risk assessments, compensation measures, and causes of the outage within one week of supply restoration.
Key findings
- Tunbridge Wells experienced a fifth day without water supply caused by contaminated chemicals at Pembury Water Treatment Works, affecting schools, medical facilities, care homes, and businesses
- South East Water's crisis management plan was substandard; bottled water distribution was inadequate, with delayed deliveries to vulnerable people and promised supply to care homes and medical settings not materialised
- Communications failures included multiple missed commitments to restore supplies; Ofwat has criticised SEW's outage performance consistently over five years and launched a statutory inquiry in 2023
- A SEW spokesperson claimed resilience and capacity had improved one week before the outage, contradicting the reality of insufficient planning and capacity
- The Committee requests crisis management documentation, risk assessments for Pembury Plant, details of local water distribution measures, cause assessments, compensation details, and justification for missed restoration commitments
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Alistair Carmichael MP, David Hinton, South East Water, Ofwat, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Notable line
“This suggests a concerning lack of resilience in South East Water's (SEW) supply infrastructure.”
Key Quotes
“This morning, the area entered its fifth day without water supplies. Several schools are closed, and medical facilities and care homes are without a secure supply.”
“The lack of water supply has reportedly been caused by a bad batch of chemicals at the Pembury Water Treatment Works, a site that has previously been identified as at significant risk of causing such an incident.”
“Over the past five years Ofwat has consistently criticised SEW's performance on water outages and in 2023 they launched a statutory inquiry into the firm's failings in this area.”
“I have been made aware that, just a week before the most recent outage, a SEW spokesperson assured local councillors that resilience and capacity had been improved, and a plan was in place for supply interruptions.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗