28 May 2026
Image description: An outdoor water tap in sharp focus, with a blurred green background. Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash Record heat, record demand Across the UK’s hottest May bank holiday on record, temperatures hit 35°C at Heathrow and South East Water in Kent and Sussex found its system pushed beyond capacity. Demand peaked at 670 […]
14 May 2026
Image description: Close-up of wastewater treatment. Image credit: Pixabay. A significant local commitment Southern Water has announced a £42m programme of infrastructure works targeting sewage spills, storm overflows and pollution incidents across Folkestone and Hythe in Kent. The investment, unveiled at a public event in Folkestone this past week, will focus on wastewater treatment […]
06 May 2026
Image description: Rows of bottled water. Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash Chair steps down following parliamentary report highlighting poor leadership The chair of South East Water (SEW), Chris Train, has resigned following the publication of a highly critical report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee, which accused the company of […]
19 Mar 2026
Image description: A housebuilder working on the frame of a house-building project. Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash House-building plans in Kent are in jeopardy after South East Water has warned that it has the capacity to supply water to only one third of all the new homes being planned. The blueprint for 23,000 […]
22 Jan 2026
The water industry regulator, Ofwat, has formally launched an investigation into South East Water after thousands of households across Kent and Sussex were left without supply for the second time in two months. The probe will examine whether the company failed in its legal duty to provide high standards of customer service and adequate support […]
08 Jan 2026
Image description: Water streaming out of a silver tap. Image by Imani on Unsplash. The Chief Executive of South East Water (SEW), David Hinton, appeared before Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee in Westminster to face questioning over the utility’s handling of the Tunbridge Wells water outage, which left thousands of homes […]
20 Jun 2019
This series of Tweets and links from John Curtin and later Defra highlights the challenges of this weather system that got stuck over the UK. Like 2007 flooding this event this prolonged period of rain will go down as yet another event which shook up our perceptions of flood risk and how we respond. The […]
13 Jun 2019
The prolonged spell of intense wet weather is causing all sorts of problems. The Environment Agency said some areas of Kent recorded about 100mm of rain in the 24 hours up to 07:00 BST. The average rainfall for the entire month of June in the UK is 73.4mm, it added. … Exmoor is likely to see up to 40mm of rain on Tuesday but could have up […]