Supply issues in Sussex and Kent
The last few years have been challenging for us all – and as your drinking water supplier, we know that sometimes we’ve not provided the service you expect from us.
We have seen record-breaking weather in 2022 and 2023 and at South East Water, we have regrettably had several supply interruptions in parts of Sussex and Kent that may have impacted you.
This includes during the freeze-thaw of December 2022 and in June 2023 when we were unable to treat enough water to meet the huge increase in demand as temperatures soared in one of the driest and hottest months on record in the UK.
Such interruptions to the supply of drinking water in parts of Sussex and Kent are unacceptable to both our customers and to us, and we recognise that our service has at times fallen short of the high standards expected.
What we have done
We have conducted a thorough review of what happened and learned lessons for the future, including having a better understanding of how we can change the direction of water flows and increase transfers around our network.
We have improved pumping capability to areas impacted by high demands during recent years, which includes Cuckfield, Bolney and Warninglid in Sussex and Tunbridge Wells in Kent.
Our water treatment sites have been made more resilient and we have maximised our raw water storage over the winter period.
We have also recommissioned three drinking water storage tanks that had been out of service for repairs and maintenance, providing an additional 22.5 million litres of water to the Kent and Sussex system.
What we are doing now
Recently, we have started the installation of a new water main between Bewl Water Treatment Works (WTW) and drinking water storage tanks in Wadhurst and Rotherfield, which is one of three substantial projects underway in East Sussex.
In total, the £80 million investment will collectively upgrade and improve the network infrastructure in the county, providing increased resilience with Bewl WTW being upgraded and 6.5 kilometres of water main being replaced between Heathfield and Rushlake Green via Punnetts Town.
We are also working to improve resilience in East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, with upcoming projects to strengthen our network in these areas at Imberhorne Lane and Turners Mill Road respectively.
This is part of our ongoing commitment to continue improving capacity and future-proofing our network, with £489 million being invested between 2020 and 2025.
What we will do in the future
We have also set out our most ambitious plan(opens in a new tab) ever to invest £1.9billion in our network over five years from 2025 to ensure the security of our water supply in the future and deliver a reliable and high-quality service to our customers. This will bring a brand-new reservoir to the area, to be built at Broad Oak in Canterbury, Kent. Building a new reservoir is a long and expensive process, and we expect to have this in operation by the mid-2030s.
We’re also going to roll out more than 275,000 smart meters to our customers, increase the amount of water storage in our network and lay new pipes to help us move water around the network more efficiently. At the same time, we want to double the amount of help we give to customers that struggle to pay, and we will increase our social tariff to help those most in need.
We know we can’t change what happened in recent years, but you can be assured that we are investing to put things right and working hard to pump more water into the area to ensure that we can keep your taps flowing.