Patients receiving kidney dialysis in Tunbridge Wells have been transferred to London as the town grapples with a five-day water outage which has been called a “public health emergency”.
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to call an emergency Cobra meeting to deal with the crisis in the Kent town, which has affected 24,000 homes and caused schools and hospitality venues to close.
On Wednesday, South East Water said that water would be returning to the area but issued a “boil water notice” instructing people not to drink the water without boiling it first.
The incident began on Saturday evening, with South East Water blaming a “bad” batch of chemicals at its Pembury water treatment works.
The company has repeatedly missed its promises for when water would be restored, and on Wednesday it said that the “water quality issues” which caused the original shutdown had returned.
As well as forcing many schools, nurseries and local businesses to close, the outage has caused huge problems for health and care services, including GP practices and care homes.
Kidney dialysis patients sent to London
The i Paper understands that patients reliant on a kidney treatment centre in Tunbridge Wells have had to be transferred to other locations, including Guy’s Hospital in central London – a two-hour drive.
A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said: “South East Water is experiencing a water supply problem in the Tunbridge area, which is affecting our dialysis services at the Tunbridge Wells kidney treatment centre.
“We are contacting all patients whose appointments are affected to offer alternative arrangements for their treatment.”
At Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged Starmer to directly intervene to take over the response to the crisis.
Bottled water is brought to Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre after people in the area experienced a loss of water since Saturday evening. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA WireDavey said: “Tens of thousands have had no water for five days. This is now a public health emergency and shockingly it’s the second time in just three years when South East Water have let down the people of Tunbridge Wells badly.
“Parents are queuing up for bottled water for their kids, pensioners are relying on neighbours to fetch some water for them, businesses have closed down.
“Schools and GPs have been forced to shut. South East Water said it would be sorted on Monday, then yesterday, and today it still hasn’t been sorted. So will the Prime Minister convene Cobra, does he agree that it’s time for him to get a grip of this crisis so it is sorted?”
‘They don’t know what the problem is’
Starmer said the situation was “shocking” and having “really serious consequences”. “We are bearing down on that as he would expect,” he added.
Mike Martin, the Lib Dem MP for Tunbridge Wells, lambasted South East Water’s response to the incident.
“The situation at the moment is that they don’t know what the problem is,” he told The i Paper. “They are able to push out non-potable water to the area that has been affected. They are starting to do that now, which means that when the taps come on, people have to boil their water or continue to use the bottled water sites.”
Martin has called for the resignation of South East Water’s chief executive, Dave Hinton, who was awarded a £115,231 bonus for his performance last year. His salary increased by 30 per cent this year to £400,000 before bonuses. South East Water customers’ bills are set to rise by an average £55,000 over the next five years.
“[South East Water] have stopped communicating with me, which is absolutely appalling,” Martin said. “It is an absolute disgrace in a public health crisis for the water utility not to continue communicating with the elected representative.”
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The crisis has led to questions about the condition of the Pembury treatment works. Last year, South East Water flagged to the Drinking Water Inspectorate that there was a “significant risk of supplying water” at the works, which “could constitute a potential danger to human health or could be unwholesome”. The DWI has said it is investigating the current incident.
South East Water said on Wednesday: “We are extremely sorry to customers in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas who continue to be affected by no water or low pressure.
“We understand that not having water has a significant impact on the everyday lives of our customers. This is not the service that we aim to provide and we are doing everything we can to restore customer supplies.”
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