Maintenance issues at Pembury contributed to the Tunbridge Wells incident in 2025, but it is South East Water’s self-identified lack of proactive and “instinctive” maintenance across its network that is most concerning. One of the most fundamental and basic responsibilities of a water company is to plan for and have the staff and resources available to maintain assets. Yet SEW did not see this a priority, even in some of its most vulnerable areas, contributing to a series of major water outag...

Maintenance issues at Pembury contributed to the Tunbridge Wells incident in 2025, but it is South East Water’s self-identified lack of proactive and “instinctive” maintenance across its network that is most concerning. One of the most fundamental and basic responsibilities of a water company is to plan for and have the staff and resources available to maintain assets. Yet SEW did not see this a priority, even in some of its most vulnerable areas, contributing to a series of major water outages between 2020 and 2023. (Conclusion, Paragraph 20) Type: conclusion | Number: 3 | Response status: response_pending