Thousands of households across Kent and Sussex have been left scrambling for water as widespread supply disruptions, triggered by a cascade of operational failures and severe weather, continue to grip the region. The crisis, which began in the early hours of Saturday, January 10, 2026, has affected communities from Maidstone and Medway to East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells, with no immediate end in sight.
According to the BBC, South East Water (SEW) customers in Maidstone—spanning Hollingbourne to Headcorn and neighboring villages—have faced dry taps or drastically reduced water pressure since the weekend began. The company estimates that 4,500 people in these areas are directly affected. Meanwhile, around 16,500 homes in and around East Grinstead, Sussex, are also experiencing either no water or low-pressure supplies. SEW’s incident manager, Steve Andrews, explained that the heart of the problem lies with Southern Water, which normally pumps more than 20 million liters of treated water daily to bolster supplies in these regions. That crucial supply was “temporarily turned off,” Andrews said, leaving storage reservoirs rapidly depleted.
The trouble doesn’t stop there. As reported by Kent Online, a separate but related issue emerged at the Matts Hill Water Supply Works in Hartlip, near Sittingbourne. Heavy rainfall in recent days caused the raw water in the ground to become “too cloudy” for treatment—a phenomenon known as high turbidity. With the plant unable to process water to the required standards, Southern Water estimates that up to 19,000 properties across the Medway Towns, Boxley, Detling, and Hartlip could be impacted. The company has responded by moving water around the network and using tankers to shore up supplies, but these stopgap measures have not been enough to stave off widespread disruption.
Residents in Medway and villages near Sevenoaks, Maidstone, and Malling have been warned to brace for continued uncertainty as bottled water deliveries began overnight into January 11. Southern Water announced plans to open two bottled water stations in Medway, describing the move as a “precautionary measure.” The company emphasized that, “to keep customers in supply, we’re moving water around our network by transferring it through different pipes, as well as topping up our network with tankers, but we have precautionary incident response measures in place in case of any disruption.”
For those most at risk, bottled water deliveries have become a lifeline. More than 8,500 customers on Southern Water’s Priority Services Register were set to receive bottled water, with roughly half of those deliveries completed by the evening of January 10. The company also pledged to deliver water to all other potentially impacted customers within 48 hours, though some residents have expressed frustration at the pace and predictability of these efforts.
Local authorities have stepped in to help manage the crisis. Maidstone Borough Council issued a directive that food businesses without running water “must close” for hygiene reasons, underscoring the public health implications of the ongoing outages. In Tonbridge and Malling, council leader Matt Boughton reported that parts of Wrotham, Addington, West Malling, Wateringbury, and Mereworth woke up without water on January 11, and emphasized the council’s commitment to supporting affected residents: “Other villages are also being impacted,” Boughton noted, adding that the council is “keen to assist the response and are meeting with the water company to offer help and support whilst our taps aren’t working.”
The impact has been especially acute in Tunbridge Wells, where about 6,500 households have experienced water disruptions since Tuesday afternoon, January 6. According to SEW, these issues may persist until at least January 13. The company explained that, until the network stabilizes, customers could enjoy normal water flow in the mornings, only to find their taps dry in the afternoons and evenings. “This is not the level of service we want to provide, but we believe this is the quickest way to return water supplies to normal,” a SEW spokesperson told the BBC. “We expect the levels to be stable by 13 January.”
The origins of the crisis are complex and multifaceted. In addition to the operational issues at Southern Water and the Matts Hill facility, a series of burst water mains on SEW’s network—exacerbated by freeze/thaw conditions—have further depleted drinking water storage tanks. The arrival of Storm Goretti on January 8 only made matters worse, disrupting water treatment rates and causing outages at several treatment works. “Storm Goretti has affected our ability to treat water at the normal rate,” a SEW spokesperson explained. “Coupled with the outbreak of burst water mains on our network due to the freeze/thaw conditions being experienced across Kent, our drinking water storage levels are running low.”
To mitigate the crisis, SEW has been “moving water from other areas of our network” and “using tankers to inject water directly into it to support demand where possible.” The company opened a bottled water station at Headcorn Aerodrome, which reopened for a second day on January 11, and has been delivering bottled water to priority customers. Yet, many residents have voiced their exasperation, calling the outages “unacceptable”—especially coming so soon after a major incident in December that left thousands without water for 14 days following a prolonged dry spell.
SEW’s handling of the situation has drawn scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers alike. The company’s executives were summoned before Parliament to address questions about issues at the Pembury Treatment Works, which contributed to the December outages. Marcus Rink, chief inspector of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, told MPs that SEW had been warned of the problems and that the plant had been operating “sub-optimally” for weeks. The chair of SEW has been asked to clarify “inconsistencies” in evidence provided to Parliament and faces a deadline of January 12 to respond.
Meanwhile, the technical challenges persist. The warnings from both SEW and Southern Water remain in effect, with households from Headcorn to Hollingbourne and across Medway still facing low pressure, intermittent, or no water at all. In Loose, near Maidstone, residents reported low pressure or no water on January 9, a situation attributed to the same supply issues plaguing other villages.
As the crisis enters its second week, residents and officials alike are hoping for swift action and a return to normalcy. With bottled water stations, tanker deliveries, and network repairs underway, the region’s water companies are racing against the clock to restore reliable service. But for many, the experience has already left a lasting impression—one that raises tough questions about infrastructure resilience, emergency planning, and the future of water supply in a changing climate.
