South East Water has issued a precautionary boil water notice for 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells as water supply is restored for flushing toilets and washing only.
The water company is reiterating that the water is safe to use for washing and flushing toilets, but it is introducing a boil water notice for customers in the area before using water for drinking and cooking. The water is chemically safe, but a potential fault in the final disinfection process means customers must boil it before drinking.
South East Water’s Head of Water Quality, Dr Neil Hudson, said:
“We regularly test our network to make sure the water we provide is safe for you to drink.
“After recharging our network in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas slowly, we have seen a recurrence of the water quality issues that caused the initial shutdown of our water treatment works in Pembury.
“Because of this, we are currently unable to produce drinking water from the Pembury treatment works that meets the strict regulatory standards required for consumption.
“We understand many customers have been without water for a number of days, causing issues with basic public health functions such as flushing the toilet or showering.
“We have therefore taken the decision to pump water from our treatment works into the network, which can be used for flushing toilets or showering, but crucially cannot be used for drinking without boiling first.”
The boil water notice applies from 12:00, midday on 3 December, until further notice – South East Water is asking all customers in the Tunbridge Wells area who have experienced low pressure or no water since 29 November to boil water before being consumed.
A map and list of postcodes is available on the company’s website and all customers in the affected areas will receive a letter in the post imminently.
The utility had three bottled water stations in place that were due to remain open until 10pm yesterday evening.
South East Water’s customer care team and Water Direct are continuing to deliver bottled water to eligible customers signed up to our Priority Services Register.
Dr. Hudson continued:
“We’re very sorry to all customers who have been experiencing issues with their water supply.
“We know how tough it is to be without water and we are doing all we can to restore supplies to customers as soon as possible.”
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