Up to 24,000 residents in Tunbridge Wells have been left with water over the weekend after a problem at South East Water’s Pembury Water Treatment Works meant the plant had to be shut down, causing storage tanks to run low in Tunbridge Wells.

The problem has been attributed to a batch of defective coagulant chemicals. The company’s latest update at 5:59 AM this morning says it is beginning to fill its drinking water storage tanks at the works and once they have reached a good level, the company will then be able to send water on to the drinking water storage tank at Blackhurst.

However, households that are furthest from the storage tanks may have to wait until noon before they regain their supply.

The process has to be completed slowly, to ensure it doesn’t cause any further issues to the network – SEW expects customer supplies to start to return throughout this morning.

Tankers are supporting the area. Bottled water is being delivered to vulnerable customers and a bottled water station is open until 10:00pm.

SEW’s customer care team and Water Direct have delivered bottled water to more than 2,000 of its most vulnerable customers, and organised a direct tanker to support Tunbridge Wells Hospital. However, the water company had intially only opened a single bottled water station where other residents could collect bottled water supplies. This was subsequently extended to three stations in separate locations in the Tunbridge Wells area, with two stations providing free water throughout the night.

The water company has come in for heavy criticism on social media over the weekend for its handling of the supply interruption, while Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin has been widely praised for his ongoing efforts to find out what was happening and keep residents updated on the situation.

Commenting throughout the day on Twitter yesterday, he said:

“I am aware of the water outage in Tunbridge Wells - indeed I am without water myself.

“I am onto the CEO of South East Water and will post updates here as I get them….

“I’ve just got off the phone with the CEO of South East Water.

“For those who are not aware, the problem has been caused by a bad batch of coagulant chemicals.I said that the bottled water station yesterday in Tonbridge was totally unacceptable.

“One is being established urgently in Tunbridge Wells. We will share the location when it is up and running.

!In addition I made clear that one site is not sufficient for the scale of outage and the CEO will be looking to establish a further site (in another part of town).”

At 11,23pm last night the MP wrote:

“This situation raises many questions about South East Water. For now, I am focusing on the immediate crisis and getting water to vulnerable people. We will deal with South East Water in the coming days.”

Comments on social media by people affected by the outtage included “Stuff happens, but your operational response and comms are beyond poor. One for your risk committee to review and publish findings on“ while another described the water company as “awol and clearly incompetent”.