South East Water issues boil water notice for 24,000 Tunbridge Wells customers

South East Water issued a boil water notice for around 24,000 households and businesses in Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas from 12:00 midday on 3 December 2025, until further notice¹. The notice applies to customers in the Tunbridge Wells area who experienced low pressure or no water since 29 November 2025¹.

The company said a recurrence of the water quality issues that caused the initial shutdown at its Pembury treatment works meant it could not produce drinking water meeting the strict regulatory standards required for consumption¹. Water pumped into the network is chemically safe and can be used for washing, showering and flushing toilets, but must be boiled and left to cool before drinking or cooking¹. South East Water's Head of Water Quality, Dr Neil Hudson, said:

A map and list of postcodes is published on the company's website, and customers in affected areas were told they would receive a letter in the post imminently¹. Three bottled water stations were open until 10pm on Wednesday 3 December: Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, St John's Rd, Royal Tunbridge Wells TN4 9TX; RCP Parking, Tunbridge Wells, TN2 5TP; and Odeon Cinema, Knights Way, Tunbridge Wells TN2 3UW¹. South East Water said its customer care team and Water Direct were continuing to deliver bottled water to eligible customers signed up to its Priority Services Register¹.

Later research commissioned by CCW and Ofwat records that the formal precautionary boil water notice was lifted on 12 December 2025². The same report says the incident involved a water quality failure at the Pembury works, with treated water too cloudy for the final disinfection process to be guaranteed, triggering an automatic shutdown². It also records a second incident in January 2026 affecting potentially 69,000 properties, including at East Grinstead, Forest Row, Ashurst Wood, parts of Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury/Blean and Staplehurst, for which no formal boil water notice was issued². Ofwat began investigating whether South East Water had complied with its customer-focused licence obligations².

Why it matters for households

For affected households in Tunbridge Wells, water from the tap remained usable for washing and flushing from 3 December, but drinking and cooking water had to be boiled and cooled first, and the notice stayed in force until it was lifted on 12 December 2025¹. The company's own guidance on what to do is set out in its boil notice advice and a boil notice checklist covers the household steps. Households that lost supply entirely may also want the supply interruption checklist, and those weighing how much water to keep at home can refer to guidance on how much drinking water to store per person.

The customer research later found that 26 per cent of respondents in November and December 2025 did not feel it was clear what they needed to do to access water that was safe to drink, rising to 41 per cent in January 2026, and that around half of Priority Services Register customers did not receive the support they expected, with bottled water delivery issues across both incidents². Less than 10 per cent were satisfied with how South East Water handled the incidents².

What happens next

South East Water directed customers to sign up for updates and to view its interactive map, and to register for its Priority Services Register at southeastwater.co.uk/psr¹. The notice was lifted on 12 December 2025 according to the CCW and Ofwat research²; the company's own announcement of the lifting has not been reported here. Ofwat's investigation into compliance with licence obligations was under way². CCW held an accountability session with South East Water executives, where customers outlined concerns and agreed an action plan with the company covering communication, support and resilience².