Water outage declared major incident
The ongoing water outage in Tunbridge Wells has been declared a Major Incident.
Boil water notice
This afternoon, Friday 12 December, at 2.55pm South East Water announced that the boil water notice in place for the area of Tunbridge Wells affected by the recent water outage was lifted with immediate effect. For information about what this means and any action you should take please visit the South East Water website.
Bottled water stations
As the boil water notice is no longer in place South East Water will be closing the bottled water stations from 10pm Friday 12 December. If you still have some bottles they suggest you keep them for future use. They have information on their website about what do to with boiled water you may have in your fridge. The bottled water station at The Amelia Scott remains open, but unstaffed, until the existing supply runs out.
Recycling plastic bottles
We’ll have additional resources available and will do everything we can to make sure your household recycling is collected. You can put bottles in plastic bags next to your bin and they will be picked up. If possible please squash the bottles. If you could avoid using black plastic bags that helps but we understand that may be unavoidable.
We have published updated advice for businesses.
Bottled water stations open today
- Odeon Cinema, Knights Way, TN2 3UW until 10pm
- B&M Store and Garden Centre, Linden Park Rd, TN2 5QL (bottled water and grab bags of water, not for drinking) until 10pm
- Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, St John's Rd, Royal Tunbridge Wells TN4 9TX until 10pm
- A walk in bottled water station is available at The Amelia, Mount Pleasant Road, TN1 1AW during opening hours.
Thursday 11 December: this water station is temporarily closed. A delivery of water is expected today and we will reopen as soon as possible.
Chief Executive of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council William Benson said:
On 2 December at 11am, we declared a major incident following confirmation from South East Water that water quality issues had reoccurred at the Pembury Water Treatment Station. This has left residents and businesses facing a fourth consecutive day without access to safe drinking water. Today marks day five, and still there is no clear timeline for restoring supplies.
This situation is wholly unacceptable. Families are unable to carry out basic daily activities such as washing, cooking, or sending children to school. Local businesses—particularly at what should be their busiest and most profitable time of year—are suffering significant disruption.
We are working with the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum to apply maximum pressure on South East Water and work together towards delivering a swift and satisfactory resolution. In the meantime, we continue to do everything within our power to support residents and help businesses remain open, ensuring that life and work in our borough can continue as best as possible under these challenging circumstances.
In addition we continue to do as much as we can to help businesses stay open and people to continue living and working in the area. We have:
- Opened temporary public toilets in Royal Tunbridge Wells town centre at Fiveways
- South East Water are keeping bottled water stations open
- We are opening a town centre water station at The Amelia Scott (walk-in) for residents unable to get to the other water stations
Council Leader, Ben Chapelard said:
This is another water catastrophe for our residents and local businesses. South East Water will have many questions to answer once service is back to normal. For now, our immediate priority is supporting our residents and business. We have declared a major incident as South East Water have been unable to meet their own timings to restore the water supply. We have mobilised our council services to support and coordinate efforts.
Today we are opening an extra bottled water station in the centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells. This is for town centre residents who cannot walk or drive to the other water stations.’
Boil water notice
SEW have issued a boil notice. Full details about what this means can be seen on the SEW Aqualerter website
There is a printable leaflet with frequently asked questions here: https://cdn.southeastwater.co.uk/SewHousehold/Documents/Leaflets/SEW_Boil_Water_Notice.pdf
Businesses can find guidance and FAQs on operating safely during the boil water notice on our Business Portal.
Check if your postcode is affected by the current boil water notice on the South East Water website.
Priority register
We are grateful to everyone who is showing concern and supporting vulnerable family, friends and neighbours.
SEW customer care team and Water Direct continue to deliver bottled water to more than 2,800 of the most vulnerable customers who are already registered on the Priority Services Register (PSR).
Customers can sign up for PSR by visiting southeastwater.co.uk/psr or calling 0333 000 0365.
We will continue to update this page and update our social media channels with information, advice and guidance https://www.facebook.com/TunbridgeWellsBoroughCouncil
Visit South East Water’s website at www.southeastwater.co.uk for the latest updates and follow South East Water on X-Twitter and Facebook.
