Following ongoing water supply issues South East Water customers across Kent have been experiencing as a result of the recent heatwave, the water company has issued a statement explaining that its water network “needs a moment to recover” and asking customers to “hold back on heavy water use.”
Commenting that “it’s no secret that the last ten days have been rough,” the utility is pointing out that while hot spells put pressure on any water network, its own region, particularly Kent, is a uniquely water-stressed environment.
“We plan for this, but when sudden demand hits record highs, the impact on our underground system is immediate.
“We’re well on the way to fixing the operational issues caused by last week’s heatwave, but the job isn't finished yet.”
“The reality of the recovery”
Addressing what it describes as the reality of the recovery, the update says that even though the temperature has dropped and there has been some rain, underground drinking water storage tanks are still catching up and drain rapidly when hundreds of thousands of taps turn on at once.
Rebuilding the reserves takes a sustained period of lower demand, “especially while we carry out technical repairs to ensure our infrastructure is more resilient moving forward.”
Setting out what it needs “right now”, South East Water is telling its customers:
“We don’t expect you to stop using water for your daily needs. Any reductions in water use today will help the system recover and protect your local supplies. This just is a straight request for help while our network gets back on its feet.
“If you can hold back on heavy water use for just a bit longer, take a shorter shower, or ensure appliances are fully loaded before running them you are directly helping us get the system stable again….
“We just need a little assistance from the taps to get us into a more comfortable position for everyone.”
Separately, an article in yesterday's Sunday Times newspaper describing the company as "troubled" says South East Water is "scrambling" to secure £100 million of new debt financing "just weeks" after breaching the terms of its operating licence.
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