Water supply issues to continue throughout Sunday

Customers in Tunbridge Wells are being affected by a problem at Pembury Water Treatment Works

A water supply issue affecting much of a town in Kent is not expected to be resolved until 18:00 GMT, a water company has said.

South East Water apologised to customers in Tunbridge Wells experiencing a loss of water or low pressure on Saturday due to an issue at a treatment works.

It had initially estimated the problem would be resolved by 06:00 on Sunday.

The company has been contacted for further comment.

In a statement on its website just before 06:30, South East Water said: "We're sorry to customers in the Tunbridge Wells area who continue to have no water or low pressure.

"This is due to an issue at our Pembury Water Treatment Works, resulting in the site shutting down. This has caused the dependent local drinking water storage tanks to run low."

It confirmed a bottled water station would open again on Sunday, with further details to follow.

A station set up in nearby Tonbridge closed at 22:00 on Saturday.

Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin said he was also without water and had spoken to the CEO of South East Water.

He wrote on X: "For those who are not aware, the problem has been caused by a bad batch of coagulant chemicals.

"A new set of chemicals have been procured and the team have been working through the night to clean out Pembury Treatment Works.

"The new chemicals will be going in this morning and the system will then need to be checked and charged.

"This may mean that water will be off throughout the day. I will update here as I know more."

Teresa Barrett, who runs the Black Horse on Camden Road, said the pub has been without running water since midnight.

She said: "Sadly this means it is illegal for us to open... if I could, I would be opening."

Losing a day of trading would be "extremely damaging", the landlady said, adding: "I can't afford to be closed, I can't lose a day's trading in the current climate.

"Things are hard enough for hospitality right now, businesses in this sector would have prepared for table bookings today and lost an extreme amount of money, [and] staff will still need to be paid."

Peter Vincent, who lives at the bottom of Grove Hill, said he noticed that the "cistern wasn't refilling properly" on Sunday morning.

"We would get the flow and the pressure coming down the hill from the mains," he told BBC Radio Kent.

"For us to be slow like that, it's going to be pretty hard for some people somewhere in the town when they all start drawing their water off."