Storm made river near untreatable, says water boss

The boss of the water company responsible for thousands of homes losing water in January has said water from one river had been "almost untreatable" at the time.

South East Water executives appeared in front of Wealden councillors on Monday to answer questions about the widespread supply failures in Kent and Sussex.

Chief executive David Hinton told councillors that heavy rain, by washing in soil, sediment, and other matter, had changed the quality of the River Ouse in Sussex.

Councillors questioned this explanation, asking if the company's management and investment in infrastructure had also played a role.

Hinton said the supply problems had been the result of freeze-thaw conditions causing burst pipes, followed by Storm Goretti, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A power failure saw Barcombe Mills Treatment Works, which is supplied by the Ouse, go offline for a short period, resulting in a reduced supply of clean water, the chief executive said.

Some 30,000 properties had no water at the height of the issues in January with many taps dry for multiple days, during which Hinton faced calls to resign.

Those incidents followed days of supply disruption before Christmas to 24,000 properties in and around Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

faces a £22m Ofwat fine for supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023, which the regulator is consulting on, and an open regulatory investigation over further recent problems.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate is also investigating the company, which serves customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

Hinton said South East Water was planning investment in infrastructure projects, including at the Barcombe facility.

But councillor Ben Cox said he was not confident that "going down the road we are going to be in a better situation than we are today".

Hinton replied that climate change had "accelerated beyond what anyone anticipated" and that investment needed to be brought forward.

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