Update 4:45pm Monday 26 February
We’re sorry to our customers in Kent who lost their water supply over the weekend or experienced low water pressure.
Heavy rainfall during the previous week led to the water quality in our underground wells deteriorating, and meant that we had to shut down our Wingham Water Supply Works on Friday. Unfortunately, this was a natural phenomenon we could not avoid.
Our on-site teams worked 24/7 throughout the weekend to resolve and fix the issue, installing new equipment so the water could be treated again from Sunday, while other colleagues were manning bottled water stations, delivering water to homes, and utlising a fleet of tankers to prop up the local network - all the minimise the impact on our communities.
While customers were reporting normal services today, we are continuing to monitor this delicate situation closely as our network in this area of Kent slowly recharges.
Thank you to our Kent communities for bearing with us while we dealt with this issue. We understand that situations like this can cause a lot of inconvenience and concern. While we do all we can to prevent incidents like these, sometimes circumstances are out of our control - but we will always work as hard as possible to get things back up and running as quickly as possible.
Update 12:10pm Sunday 25 February
Supply should now have returned to customers in parts of Kent following our teams successfully getting our supply works running again overnight. However, we are closely monitoring the situation and it will take time for our reservoirs at Adisham and Aylesham to recover.
Because supply is now stablised we have taken the decision to close our bottled water stations this afternoon.
Our sites at Aylesham Leisure Centre and Manston Airport will close at 1pm.
Update 8.20am Sunday 25 February
We are sorry customers in the affected areas of Kent have experienced water supply and pressure issues since Friday evening following difficulties at our Wingham Water Supply Works.
Supply should be returning to normal to customers throughout the morning, this follows our teams successfully getting our supply works running again overnight. However, we are closely monitoring the situation and it will take time for our reservoirs at Adisham and Aylesham to recover.
To ensure supply remains stable today, we will continue to use tankers to inject water into the network. We will also continue bottled water deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register.
As a precaution we will keep two bottled water stations open this morning these are located at:
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
- Manston International Airport, Manston Road, Ramsgate CT12 5BQ
Thank you for your ongoing patience and we’re very sorry for the impact this has had.
Update 9.25pm February 24
We are sorry that customers in the affected areas of Kent may still be experiencing water supply and pressure issues going into tonight, following difficulties at our Wingham Water Supply Works.
Our teams have worked throughout the day to minimise impact on customers in the the Adisham, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bishopsbourne, Bridge, Eythorne, Frogham, Goodnestone, Kingston, Patrixbourne and Staple areas - and thanks to efforts to move water around our network to where it is needed most, the current number of properties affected has fallen from a peak of 9,500 to 1,600.
We have almost finished our bottled water deliveries for the day, and our two bottled water stations remain open until 10pm tonight. These are located at:
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
Tomorrow morning at 8am, we will open two bottled water stations (please note the change in one location):
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
- Manston International Airport, Manston Road, Ramsgate CT12 5BQ
Progress continues to be made on resolving the issues at Wingham Water Supply Works, and we will continue working throughout the night installing specially made filters, which will enable us to resume operations there.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and we’re very sorry for the continued impact this is having.
Update 3.40pm February 24
We’re sorry customers in parts of Kent including areas of Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster and Monkton may still be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure today.
Some customers should start to see some water return this afternoon, thanks to a temporary solution we have put in place, this is called a rezone and our network is recharging – some customers should expect to see supply return this afternoon over the next three hours.
We're still working on implementing a full fix to the issue at Wingham Water Supply Works.
As customers start to see water return it’s really normal to experience some low pressure, discolouration and other changes to your water. This is temporary.
Below outlines what you can expect:
- Discoloured water from your taps is normal after a supply interruption. This is usually temporary and disappears once the network settles.
- If the water is cloudy and white, try leaving it in a glass for a few minutes to see if it clears, this will be air trapped in the water as the pipes refilled.
- Chlorine smell or taste. This is perfectly normal and comes from the small amounts of chlorine that remain in your supply known as 'chlorine residual'.
- If the water has a brown or black colour, run your tap for a few minutes and it should clear. If this doesn't work, turn the tap off, wait 20 minutes and try again. It’s fine to use your water as normal when your water runs clear.
- Sometimes after a network has been emptied air locks can occur either in our pipes or customers’ – running taps for a short while can help bring water through.
Update 2.35pm Saturday 24 February
We’re sorry customers in parts of Kent including areas of Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster and Monkton may still be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure today.
Some customers should start to see some water return this afternoon, thanks to a temporary solution we have put in place, this is called a rezone and our network is recharging – some customers should expect to see supply return this afternoon over the next three hours.
We will continue to deliver bottled water to all customers impacted by this.
What has happened
Due to very heavy rainfall raw water quality in the underground wells has deteriorated, impacting our ability to abstract and treat to the required standard.
Teams are on-site and have been working through the night to address the issue. Their efforts will continue throughout today as they are installing specially made filters to help make sure the water can be put back into supply to the required standard.
When will this be fixed
In the best case scenario a full fix could be implemented tonight, but it is very possible that disruption could continue throughout this weekend. The good news is that we now have a temporary solution that should mean some customers who were impacted on Friday evening and Saturday morning now have supply. The plan is for all customers impacted to have supply back thanks to this rezone.
How are you helping customers who do not have supply right now?
We have mobilised more than 20 tankers to inject water into accessible areas impacted and we’re delivering bottled water to all customers impacted, due to the number of customers we're delivering to, it may take time today for deliveries to reach certain areas.
If you haven't received water we also have also have two bottled water stations open today, these are at:
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
We apologise for the inconvenience this continues to cause and we are working as quickly to resolve this.
UPDATE 12.10pm Saturday 24 February
We’re sorry customers in parts of Kent including areas of Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster and Monkton may still be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure today.
What has happened
Due to very heavy rainfall raw water quality in the underground wells has deteriorated, impacting our ability to abstract and treat to the required standard.
Teams are on-site and have been working through the night to address the issue. Their efforts will continue throughout today as they are installing specially made filters to help make sure the water can be put back into supply to the required standard.
When will this be fixed
In the best case scenario a fix could be implemented tonight, but it is very possible that disruption could continue throughout this weekend, we’re very sorry if this is the case.
How are you helping customers right now?
We have mobilised more than 20 tankers to inject water into areas impacted, however we are aware that they are struggling to keep up with demand and this means customers are having periods of no supply or low pressure. We’re working hard to resolve this issue.
To make sure everyone gets water we’re delivering bottled water to all customers impacted, due to the number of customers we're delivering to, it may take time today for deliveries to reach certain areas.
We’re also exploring other ways of moving water around our network to bring as many customers back into supply as possible through what we call a rezone.
If you haven't received water we also have also have two bottled water stations open, these are at:
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
Meanwhile all customers on our priority service register will receive deliveries.
We apologise for the inconvenience this continues to cause and we are working as quickly to resolve this.
Update 8.20am Saturday 24 February
We’re sorry customers in parts of Kent including areas of Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster and Monkton may still be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure this morning.
This is due to technical issues at our Wingham Water Supply Works involving the water treatment process.
Teams are on-site and have been working through the night to address the issue. Their efforts will continue throughout today.
This morning we have two bottled water stations open, these are at:
New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
Many of our customers in these areas are being supported by a fleet of water tankers, however due to demand, there may be periods of intermittent supply.
Some households who cannot be supported in this way at this time, will instead receive bottled water deliveries today.
Meanwhile all customers on our priority service register will receive deliveries.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused and are working as quickly as we can to put it right
Update 9.20pm Friday 23 February
We’re sorry customers in parts of Kent including areas of Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, Minster and Monkton may be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure.
This is due to a technical issues at our Wingham Water Supply Works involving the water treatment process. Due to turbidity the water is more difficult to treat and put back into supply.
Unfortunately our work to find a solution has not been successful so far, and we expect disruption will continue throughout this weekend. When we have a clearer idea of timescales we will provide a further update.
In the meantime our teams are working round-the-clock to reduce the impact on customers. This includes making bottled water deliveries to customers in areas affected. A tankering operation will also be injecting water into the network. Customers may experience periods of intermittent supply or low pressure while this is going on.
We’ll also be making bottled water deliveries to customers in areas affected where tankering isn’t taking place.
Our bottled water stations will close at 10pm tonight and will reopen tomorrow morning.
They are at the following locations:
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
We’re sorry for the continued impact and disruption this is causing, we will provide a further update tomorrow morning.
Update 7.10pm Friday 23 February
Our teams are continuing to work to resolve issues at Wingham Water Supply Works.
We have now opened a second bottled water station.
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
- Aylesham Leisure Centre, Aylesham, CT3 3BE
Both these stations will remain open until 10pm tonight.
We will continue to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register. If you feel you should have received a bottled water delivery and have not, please call us on 0330 303 0368.
We're sorry for the continued disruption this is causing.
Update 6pm Friday 23 February
We’re sorry customers in areas of Kent including Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, Ramsgate and Monkton may be experiencing a loss of supply or low pressure due to technical issues at our supply works in Wingham
We now have a bottled water station open and will be looking to open a second one shortly.
The bottled water station is at:
- New Dover Road Park and Ride, Canterbury, CT1 3EL
We are continuing to deliver bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register. If you feel you should have received a bottled water delivery and have not, please call us on 0330 303 0368.
Our teams are continuing to work on resolving the issue and we will provide a further update on our website and social channels before 10pm tonight.
First update 4.45pm Friday 23 February
We’re sorry customers in Adisham, Ash, Aylesham, Bekesbourne, Bridge, Ramsgate and Monkton may be experiencing a loss of supply or low water pressure.
This is due to technical issues at our Wingham Water Supply Works in our water treatment process and turbidity, which means the water is more difficult to treat and put into supply.
We have been delivering bottled water throughout the day to customers on our Priority Services Register, and will confirm locations and opening times for bottled water stations as soon as we can for the wider community.
Our teams are working round the clock to get supplies back up and running as soon as possible.
If you feel you should have received a bottled water delivery and have not, please call us on 0330 303 0368.
We’ll be keeping our website and social media channels up-to-date during this incident, so please check back regularly for the latest information.