South East Water is a UK supplier of drinking water to 2.2 million consumers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire and is a private limited company registered in England and Wales.[1][2]
Each day the company supplies on average 521 million litres of drinking water from its 83 water treatment works and manages more than 14,500 kilometres (about 9,000 miles) of its water mains. The company's supply area covers 5,657 square kilometres. The company takes water from rivers, reservoirs at Ardingly and Arlington, and underground sources (aquifers) under abstraction licences issued by the Environment Agency.[2] South East Water is at least 75% owned by entities domiciled outside of the United Kingdom.[3]
History
The present company came into existence in December 2007 by a merger of Mid Kent Water and an earlier separate company with the name of South East Water, thus uniting two water companies in the South East of England.[4]
In 2021/2022 South East Water's CEO, David Hinton, received a base salary (not including bonus, pension contributions and other benefits) of £271,620. The CFO received a base salary of £222,503 over the same period.[5]
South East Water was one of eleven water providers fined by the water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, in October 2022. South East Water’s fine was £3.2 million.[6]
As of 21 December 2022, South East Water continued to receive criticism, including from MPs, as a result of widespread and long-lasting water outages affecting thousands of homes and businesses across its network. Bottled water stations were set up at several sites, but supplies quickly ran low. Various sites were forced to unexpectedly close at short notice to restock or as they became overwhelmed.[7][8]
The Guardian reported on 21 December 2022 that South East Water had admitted that it couldn’t guarantee that all customers would have their water supply restored by Christmas Day. Speaking to Kent Live, Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells and former Cabinet Minister, said:
"I have spoken every day with the chief executive of South East Water, David Hinton. I wish I could tell you that I am confident that reliable supplies will be resumed imminently, but I’m afraid I can't."[9]
Mr Clark later described the leadership of South East Water as "deficient" in a crisis situation [8]
Mr Clark confirmed that he had raised the issue in the House of Commons, asked the government to intervene, and further described South East Water's approach to resolving the crisis as "unacceptably bad and in some instances chaotic."[8]
Further mass outages affected customers in June 2023, with several schools across Kent and Sussex being forced to close as a direct result of the lack of water supply.[10] A BBC article described how elderly residents - many of whom did not have social media - were “beginning to panic and worry about how they are going to get water.”[11] MP Nus Ghani described the situation as “groundhog day” and urged South East Water to urgently remedy the situation.[12] On 26 June 2023 the company introduced a hosepipe ban across the area, blaming increased domestic demand through more people working at home. This was despite reservoirs in the region being almost full, following a wet winter and spring.
In June 2025, the company received a £200 million cash injection from its owners to improve its financial resilience.[13]
In late November 2025, a major supply failure at the Pembury water treatment works (near Tunbridge Wells, Kent) left tens of thousands of customers of South East Water (SEW) without running water. The plant was shut down on the evening of 29 November after the company admitted a “bad” or “chemical” batch of coagulant chemicals had contaminated the treatment process.[14] South East Water apologised and reported that roughly 24,000 homes across Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Frant and Eridge lost water or pressure at the peak of the outage.[15] By 3 December the company reported that water had been restored to about 12,000 properties, but then recontamination forced all 24,000 back out of supply.[16] The outage had severe effects on the community. Schools, nurseries and many businesses were forced to close due to the lack of clean water.[17] Residents described fetching rainwater to flush toilets[18] and washing at hotels. Local authorities and charities provided bottled water, but some vulnerable people reportedly missed promised deliveries.[19] Affected families stocked up on bottled drinking water, and one Tunbridge Wells couple with seven-month-old twins described spending hundreds of pounds on takeaways and even paying £125 for a single hotel shower.[20] Many business owners blamed SEW. The owner of a 20-room hotel said he lost at least £30,000 and was forced to “mothball” the business.[21] A pub manager reported cancelling regular events and throwing away thousands of pounds of food; by 3 December the pub had been closed since the outage began, with at least £3,000 in losses so far.[22] In general, residents took to social media and news outlets to express frustration, and local councillors noted people queued for hours at water stations while care homes and medical facilities struggled without supplies.
Critics attacked SEW’s handling of the crisis. Tunbridge Wells’s Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin.[23] Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey visited Tunbridge Wells and called the outage an “emergency” and a “public health emergency”.[24]Prime Minister Keir Starmer replied that the situation was “shocking” and that ministers were “bearing down” on SEW to restore supplies.[25] Martin called for SEW’s chief executive, David Hinton, to resign.[26] The local council declared a major incident on 2 December and opened extra public water points and toilets.[27] Government and regulators also intervened. The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) announced a formal investigation into the Pembury works incident.[28] DEFRA officials said the disruption was “unacceptable,” and by 3 December the Water Minister had summoned SEW’s CEO for an urgent meeting.[29].
↑"Water restored to thousands of Kent homes - but it is not safe to drink". Sky News. Retrieved 4 December 2025. The water company has issued a "boil water notice" for 24,000 homes in and around Tunbridge Wells that have experienced a loss of water or low pressure since Saturday evening. SEW said on Wednesday that the "water quality issues" that caused the initial shutdown had returned. They have decided to continue pumping water so that people can flush their toilets and shower, but it should not be drunk without being boiled first.
↑Horton, Helena; reporter, Helena Horton Environment (4 December 2025). "Water plant that caused Tunbridge Wells supply failure was given risk notice in 2024". The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Schools, restaurants, pubs and hotels across the town have been forced to shut all week because of a lack of clean running water. GP surgeries have also struggled to obtain water supplies.
↑https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50578/documents/276209/default/. The situation appears to have been aggravated by a substandard crisis management plan. SEW's approach to the selection of sites for bottled water distribution and ensuring that enough bottled water is supplied to those sites has also been criticised by local representatives and consumers, and has reportedly been coupled with delays in deliveries to vulnerable people. I have also received reports that care homes and other medical settings have not been supplied with bottled water as promised. Further, I have concerns about the adequacy of SEW's crisis communications. Several commitments to restore supplies have been made and then ultimately missed.{{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑"'It's unacceptable': Investigation launched and major incident declared as families without water for six days". Kent Online. 3 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. The cost of the crisis is also piling up. They've had to rely on ready meals or microwave food to keep the amount of washing up to a minimum and last night paid £125 to shower at a hotel. Ms Cabrita said: "We didn't sleep there or anything, we just called the hotel and asked if we could go just to have a shower and bathe the babies.
↑"Water crisis: Owner forced to mothball hotel after losing £30k". Kent Online. 3 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Mr Leefe-Griffiths, who has been in the hospitality trade for 25 years, has slammed South East Water (SEW) and is demanding maximum compensation. He said: "It is beyond shocking that in this day and age a major utility should be so badly run. "Head must roll. And it shouldn't be the government that bales them out, it should the company [which carries the cost]."
↑"Water crisis: Owner forced to mothball hotel after losing £30k". Kent Online. 3 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Several other businesses have spoken about the crisis. Zak Duggan, manager of the High Street-based White Bear pub, says they have been closed since Saturday. He said: "We have had to cancel parties every morning, which is a real shame. We have had to throw away a lot of food. "We must have lost about £3,000 up to now. We have been told we might be on later today, but only boiled water and no drinking water. It's a case of fingers crossed."
↑"'Livid' Tunbridge Wells residents forced to boil water after supplies finally return". The Independent. 4 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin told The Independent: "It's been appalling what the people of Tunbridge Wells have had to suffer over the last week. Not only have South East Water cut off their water supply, but they've utterly failed to manage the crisis and they've communicated in a contradictory and ineffective way. This has made the crisis worse rather than better."
↑"'We can't wash': Families hit by South East Water crisis". BBC News. 4 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the situation as "shocking" after the ongoing issue was raised by Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey at Prime Minister's Questions.
↑"Why was South East Water's boss asked to quit?". BBC News. 3 December 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2025. The latest water crisis in Kent has prompted Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin to demand that South East Water (SEW) chief executive resign, adding: "The latest incident is in a long line of problems for which the company is responsible."
↑"Water outage declared major incident". Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Chief Executive of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council William Benson said. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
↑Horton, Helena; reporter, Helena Horton Environment (4 December 2025). "Water plant that caused Tunbridge Wells supply failure was given risk notice in 2024". The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Retrieved 4 December 2025. David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, who has faced calls for his resignation over the situation in Tunbridge Wells, was called into a meeting with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday.
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