A water provider has confirmed that a town’s water crisis has been exacerbated by its “hilly nature”.
It’s estimated 4,000 properties across Tonbridge and Sevenoaks have been without water or had low pressure since the beginning of the week after a power cut closed a major treatment works site on Sunday.
South East Water (SEW) have today confirmed the issue has been worsened by the hilly terrain of the area which causes air locks in pipes as a result of them emptying and refilling.
This can prevent water from moving, and teams must be sent to the sites to remove it from the systems.
In a statement, incident manager Phil Jones said: “We’re very sorry to customers in the south Tonbridge and Bidborough areas who are still without water or experiencing low-pressure today.
“We estimate around 4,000 properties are in the affected areas, including some schools, with around 2,500 properties still experiencing no water or low-pressure issues.
“This follows a power cut at one of our key water treatment works on Sunday, which meant levels in our drinking water storage tanks fell.
“The site has been back in operation since Monday, and water is slowly returning to our storage tanks and pipework across the network.
“However, due to the hilly nature of the area, we are experiencing air locks in our pipes due to them emptying and refilling.
“Air locks can prevent water from moving around the area, and our teams are out and about removing these from the system.”
SEW added that as they continue refilling the network, they anticipate supplies should be returned to most customers this evening and by tomorrow morning.
Customers are also told to let their taps run if the water appears cloudy or discoloured to remove air from the system.
Due to the continuing issues, Tonbridge Grammar, the Judd, and Nexus schools remained closed today. Some advised students to access work through Google Classroom.
Bottled water stations are available at Sovereign Way East Car Park in Tonbridge and Speldhurst Village Hall in Tunbridge Wells.
Operations Director Douglas Whitfield added: “The area is supplied by a large treatment works in Sevenoaks. Over the weekend, following the storm, there was a power cut that caused a safety fault at one of our circuit breakers. We had to repair it, and it was completed Monday morning.
“Due to the way the site works, although the power was off, water from the boreholes continued to pour into the site, so during the day Monday, we had to remove all the untreated water and make sure any water pumped meant our standards
“We’ve effectively been refilling the Sevenoaks and Tonbridge system since Monday evening, most of which has now been completed.
“There are two areas, Tunbridge Wells high level and Bidborough areas, that still have no water today as they’re the last areas that we need to recharge on higher ground, clear the air from our system and restart our boosters.”
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