Investigation begins into South East Water after thousands left without drinking water
South East Water outage impacts over 30,000 homes
Last updated 15th Jan 2026
The water regulator Ofwat has launched an investigation into South East Water following extended outages that left thousands of homes in Kent and Sussex without drinking water.
Water supply issues have affected over 30,000 households, with some properties enduring a week without water. Although water services have now resumed in 15,000 homes in East Grinstead, significant disruptions are still impacting other areas.
Tunbridge Wells has been identified as the worst affected location, with Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds visiting the town to assess the situation.
South East Water says a recovery plan was implemented in Tunbridge Wells from yesterday evening (14 January) to provide customers with a consistent water supply by Friday morning.
The Prime Minister has condemned the ongoing outages as "totally unacceptable."
In a statement, South East Water said: "Our teams have continued to work on returning supplies and we are pleased to say that most areas are now coming back into supply.
"We need to return the water in a controlled way to protect the network from any further issues but we are anticipating all customers will have their water back by tomorrow morning.
"Again, we are very sorry and we appreciate how difficult this is for our customers."
Ms Reynolds stated she has referred concerns to Ofwat, and the regulator is now investigating whether South East Water has complied with its license conditions.