SE Water Update 1 June 2026 Part 1

Below is a further update on the latest regarding the Kent drinking water supply interruptions this morning (Monday, 1 June).

Drinking water supplies are continuing to return for many customers across Kent.

However, there are 117 customers in the Mereworth area that we haven’t yet been able to restore supplies to over the weekend. We are aiming to restore water supplies to these customers today (Monday).

Across Kent there are still around 3,164 customers experiencing intermittent supplies while we continue to stabilise the network.

The majority of our network is continuing to recover, however levels of drinking water in our storage tanks across the region are still extremely low and, despite the weather cooling, we are asking customers to use water for essential purposes only - drinking, cooking, and hygiene.

Tankers are still being used to support the network and aid recovery.

We are sincerely sorry to customers for disruption to their water supply and know how frustrating it is, especially in the recent hot weather.

We know there are customers still experiencing water supply issues as a result of incredibly high demand during the recent heatwave, and we apologise unreservedly for the inconvenience this continues to cause. This is not the service our customers expect, nor is it the service we aim to provide.

The situation

We currently have around 117 households with no water in the Mereworth area as the levels in the storage tank supplying that area dropped below the amount our boosters need to run yesterday. The storage tank has replenished well overnight and we will be re-starting the boosters this morning.

The burst in the Pennington Place area of Tunbridge Wells which previously caused a small number of households to have no water has been repaired overnight and supplies fully restored to customers.

Experiencing an intermittent supply

Currently, 3,164 customers are still experiencing an intermittent drinking water supply or low pressure. This means water may go on and off at peak times as our drinking water storage tanks continue to recover due to increased demand following the hot weather last week.

This means they may have no water or low pressure at peak demand times, particularly between 7am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm.

These are as follows:

• Kemsing - approximately 200 customers have had supplies restored, and we are undertaking checks this morning to confirm this.

• Coxheath and Loose areas - Around 1,100 customers will continue to experience an intermittent supply throughout today. Customers on higher ground where pumps are required to push water to their homes are most likely to be impacted by periods without water.

• Headcorn and Ulcombe areas - Around 1,120 customers may have intermittent supply, with those on higher ground most likely to be impacted.

• Benenden - There are 744 customers in this area who may be experiencing intermittent supply.

We are continuing to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register in areas without water or experiencing an intermittent supply throughout today.