Hundreds of East Sussex residents left without water were ‘badly let down’, says MP

South East Water said up to 800 properties were affected by the outage.

Bexhill and Battle MP Dr Kieran Mullan and county councillor Paul Redstone met the company's CEO John Halsall to voice concerns.

The outage affected Northiam and surrounding villages from July 17 to 19.

Dr Mullan said South East Water accepted that Northiam residents were let down by the incident's handling, particularly regarding bottled water delivery, communication with vulnerable residents and the information provided to customers.

He said the company explained that a significant leak affected a reservoir, impacting five distribution areas.

Many residents were left without emergency bottled water and some communities appeared to receive support before those who had been without water for longer, said the MP.

He said: “Residents were badly let down and I made that clear to South East Water. While I welcome the fact the company accepted that mistakes were made, people quite rightly want more than an apology. They want confidence that this cannot happen again.

“Many people were left without water for an unacceptable length of time, vulnerable residents did not receive the support they should have expected and communication throughout the incident fell well below the standard people deserve.

“I have pressed South East Water to provide clear answers on why bottled water took so long to reach some residents, how decisions were made about where support was sent and what changes are being put in place before another incident occurs.”

Estelle Ferschneider, South East Water’s head of water supply for Kent, said: “We are truly sorry to our customers in Northiam, Sandhurst, Hawkhurst, and surrounding areas who experienced low water pressure or no water at all.

“We recognise the serious impact this had on our customers and know that we fell short of what is expected of us.

“The disruption was caused by a burst water main. The repair was particularly complex and we worked as quickly and safely as possible to complete the work.

“To restore supplies to as many customers as possible while repairs were underway, we worked continuously to redirect water around our network of pipes and inject water directly into the local network using tankers.

“Despite this, up to 800 properties in the Sandhurst area experienced low pressure or no water while the pipeline was being repaired. We delivered water directly to the doors of all impacted properties in the Sandhurst area as well as to those registered on our Priority Services Register.

“In Northiam, we used tankers to inject water directly into the network to keep customers in supply, and so did not arrange deliveries or set up a bottled water station. Unfortunately, by the time we realised this was not keeping all customers in the Northiam area supplied with water, the burst had been repaired and the water supply was beginning to return.

“Supplies were fully returned to customers by Sunday, July 19 following the repair of the burst main.

“We sincerely apologise for the disruption caused.

“We are also working hard to improve customer communication and the channels we use during an incident to ensure customers are provided with timely and accurate information about any interruptions across our supply area.”