Southern Water have been taken to task over their handling of a mains leak, and subsequent problems with its repair, that has caused major disruption to the water supply throughout the area including Camber, Winchelsea Beach and Rye.
Whilst the source of the leak was investigated and in the process of being repaired and, in an effort to keep taps running, bowser tankers have been deployed by Southern to fill the water tower at Rye Hill and elsewhere to substitute the mains water supply which has had to be turned off in order to fix the problem.
Many households in Winchelsea Beach have been without water since Saturday, September 23 and have not had bottled water delivered since then. According to Southern’s website, a red triangle at Winchelsea Beach (TN36 4LD) states that there has been no water / low pressure since September 23. The customer update on September 28 states that a bottled water station is being set up at Rye railway station car park (five days after the initial problem) and bottled water is being delivered. The website says to call 0300 303 0368 if you need to arrange a delivery of bottled water.
Rob Brown, a resident of Winchelsea Beach says: “We are now on our 5th day without water. Initially Southern Water texted to warn of supply disruption. Now there is no information at all. The tanker supply gives an occasional trickle but it’s too big an area to be effective. Southern Water say they are delivering bottled water but they are not. All we want is to know what to expect.”
To add to customers’ woes, planned maintenance work that was scheduled in East Guldeford (TN31 7NR) on September 26 to 27 has meant isolating the water, resulting in no water or low pressure for residents in that area.
Camber has been similarly affected with households reporting that there have been limited and sporadic deliveries of bottled water and many homes and businesses in and around Rye have had problems with their water supply, resulting in some shops, cafes, pubs and other places having to close. Due to the intermittent nature of the low pressure or lack of supply, there has been very little warning as to when water will be on or off. The problem of lack of information from Southern Water via text, on their website or for callers, is compounding the problems faced by households and businesses.
Local resident Charlie Harkness says: “On Wednesday September 27, Rye’s bus station area (and Jempson’s) were full of schoolchildren at 1pm today as the academy appeared to have shut early because of water supply problems, and householders mentioned both long and short interruptions to water supplies – with some shops said to be badly affected.”
In an email to Southern Water, Councillor Simon McGurk has called on the company to urgently address the problem, highlighting the lack of delivery of water bottles to the vulnerable, families with babies and young children, and the disabled.
Helena Dollimore, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye has written to Southern Water calling for urgent action on the repair and supply, and water stations in every village with Southern Water representatives present on the ground. She also raised the issue of compensation to residents and businesses. In a statement she says:
“Southern Water’s appalling treatment of residents in Rye and the surrounding area is more akin to 1823 than 2023. Southern Water has ignored my calls for immediate water stations in each area and instead promised deliveries that do not arrive. I have spoken to one woman in Rye this morning with an eight week old baby at home, who has been promised deliveries that do not arrive. There are many cases like this. Of the 35 residents who contacted me this morning, 97% had received no water delivery and were still without.
“Local pubs have been forced to close and local businesses tell me they have lost thousands of pounds due to the disruption so far. This is a water crisis and Southern Water need to get their act together and urgently get water stations set up in every area, get the water supply back on and then look at compensation for affected residents and businesses.”
Sally-Ann Hart, Conservative MP for Hastings and Rye writes: “Regarding the persistent water issues in the Rye, Camber and Winchelsea area, Southern Water were hoping to temporarily deal with the matter by delivering bottled water to homes.
“This has clearly not worked.
“I have constantly pressed for Southern Water to set up a water station. I understand that one is now set up in the railway station car park in Rye. I continue to press for water stations to be set up in the surrounding villages.
“I have also been in contact with DEFRA ministers about this ongoing serious situation and have urged them to take action.”
In a statement on September 28, Southern Water apologised for the situation:
“We are sorry that customers in Rye, Winchelsea and Camber are continuing to have issues with their water supply this morning.
“Unfortunately, the repair and recharging is taking longer than expected and the measures necessary to fix the burst means we’re unable to fill Rye Water Tower. This means customers are still being fed through water tankers and are likely to have intermittent periods of no water.
“We will open a bottled water station this morning and will announce further details of this when it is set up.
“We will continue to carry out bottle water deliveries to customers on our priority services register throughout the day. If you are concerned or have no water please call our customer contact centre on 0330 303 0368.”
Ofwat, the water industry regulator, recently announced that Southern Water had failed to meet all but one of its targets resulting in the company required to refund £43 million to customers. The company, with profits of nearly £250 million, has been heavily criticised, and fined, for its record on pumping sewage into the sea.
Update: Thursday, September 28, 1:15pm
The Southern Water website has been updated with the following statement:
“On Friday 22nd September we identified an unknown leak in the area of our Udimore reservoir that feeds Camber and Rye, to the east of Hastings.
“This area is rural so locating the leak has been incredibly complicated. After an extensive search we found a burst on the afternoon of Sunday 24th September, off Udimore Reservoir. In searching for leak, we isolated some zones for a period of hours and re-established pressure and so some customers would have experienced low or no pressure for a number of hours, over the weekend, due to the investigation.
“We could not repair the pipe without significant rezoning of our network (as this pipe supplies around 80% of the water needed in the area) . This work involved installing two new valves to isolate the burst site, and from Tuesday night we have locked in zones which are being fed from tankers only, which has resulted in more prolonged periods of low and no pressure. We’d like to apologise if you have experienced less pressure than usual or experienced no water at all.
“To reduce customer impact, we immediately brought in a fleet of 16 tankers, which have been injecting water into the network to keep customers in supply since Saturday. We also started bottled water deliveries to customers on our priority services register at the weekend, and expanded this to reach more customers.
“Until Wednesday morning these tankers had been keeping the majority of customers in the area in supply – although they may have noticed a drop in pressure or had moments of intermittent supply as these tankers changed over. This has mainly happened during periods of peak demand.
“We would like to apologise if you have experienced less pressure than usual or experienced no water at all.
“On Wednesday we also we attempted to reconnect to the reservoir, but this has taken a lot longer than planned due to the need to meet certain criteria, such as water quality, which is paramount. This had complicated the tankering process, which is why customers may have noticed a change since Saturday.
“A revised plan is now in place to recharge the system, and we will continue to support this with tankers, until a permanent fix can be made to the burst main. This is due to be completed by the end of the weekend.
“Customers in the TN31 7 and TN36 which are Winchelsea Beach, Rye Harbour and Point Hill area will see more resilient supplies returned by this evening, as supplies are returned from the reservoir. If something changes this timeline, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
“Customers in Camber and Rye will be supplied by tankers until we can make the permanent fix, however, they should see an improvement as we divert tankers from Winchelsea Beach, Rye Hardbour [sic] and Point Hill to support you.”
Image Credits: Nick Forman .
Facebook 28 September 1558hrs
– Simon, have you seen the Tillingham River?
-(another party replies) Can I ask what’s wrong with the Tillingham River as I live close by it?
– it’s full of dead fish and black water.
It hasn’t been caused by Southern Water though.
Thirsty readers might want to visit Ofwat’s website and view the compensation amounts due under the ‘Guaranteed Standards Scheme’ (GSS). And perhaps some small satisfaction may be had by responding to the Southern Water site’s ‘Contact Us – How Are We Doing? Tell Us How We Did…’?
The BBC’s Newsroom Southeast programme reported on 28 September that Southern Water was having difficulty locating the pipeline leak in (or near) Udimore reservoir. However, Southern Water apparently said that it expected this major leak to be rectified by this Sunday, 1 October. Time will tell… Problems with faulty infrastructure like this beg the question whether British citizens would be better served by returning their water provision to public ownership, rather than allowing foreign investors and others to cream off billions of pounds in dividends from UK residents, who are in effect obliged to pay monopoly private providers for their water. Instead of investing properly in the water infrastructure and eliminating sewage spills into our rivers and seas, the private water companies focus on returning dividends to their shareholders. The recent BBC TV programme ‘Paul Whitehouse: Our Troubled Rivers’ was illuminating on this subject. As far as I know, almost every other (if not all) European country ensures its water supply is publicly owned, for good reason. Once again, Britain is the laughing stock of the world. We only have ourselves to blame for electing governments that allow this to happen.
Why are tankers topping it up if there is a major leak ?
The area of the leak has been isolated from the system.
One has to ask will lessons be learnt over this water shortage debacle, Southern water have treated the residents of Rye and District appallingly,and why were they not leasing with our councils, on Ryes busiest day of the week who suggested using the railway car park,even the station staff at Rye were unaware of this,which caused absolute chaos in the town. Why couldn’t the local authorities not notified the coach companies in Eastbourne, don’t come to Rye today,because half of the town is closed,including the toilets, many people who couldn’t get to the station because of disabilities were asked to ring up and bottled water would be delivered to their homes, many are still waiting, as for the local hospitality industry, yes its been an inconvenience to locals and visitors, but just like when covid struck,they were reimbursed for their losses, so if this debacle happens again,let’s hope the local authorities will step up to the mark,something that hasn’t happened this time, and remember locals first,visitors second, for a change.
Has anyone else pointed out that Southern Water is an anagram for An Utter Shower?
What stands out for me in this incident is the fact that Southern Water do not have an updated Vulnerable Persons list and have left older, disabled residents and those with young children without water, it is appalling. Residential care homes have likewise been left without support and information. For such a crucial part of our infrastructure to be found so wanting is something we must not ignore and I will be asking for a review to make sure this does not happen again.
Not being mind readers Southern Water can only go by the list that is compiled by their customers. If you don’t register yourself, they won’t know about your needs.
It can be done easily here:
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-advice/join-our-priority-services-register
Chris that will work for many people but for some with cognitive problems, a learning disability or anyone else who can’t use the internet it is not always possible. Our public services such as the Fire Service and adult social care regularly share information (with consent) for exactly these scenarios. They have a responsibility to at least liaise with local authorities to ensure those less able than you and I are safe and have access to water.
Simon, In view of the seriousness of this I’m sure you’ll find that if Southern Water are advised by the Fire Service, Carer, etc the people will be added to the list. I know how seriously they take these matters.
Can I suggest that, as a councillor, you contact Southern Water yourself and discuss your concerns to them directly? Perhaps a chat with Sally-Ann Hart MP would help you as well?
I shared my email to Southern Water doing exactly this earlier in the week, I got a partial response repeating the info on their website.
That doesn’t explain why they were trying to deliver to the petrol station in Camber, that hasnt been there for years and to holiday homes (empty) …
Hi Simon – I was added by Southern Water for the Priority Services 4 years ago, as I reach the criteria in several aspects. They also asked my permission to share my details with my other service providers – ie energy. On the weekend of 17th September, we in Hastings Old Town were affected by contaminated water supply, resulting from broken supply pipes. We were not notified or advised by Southern Water of this, and my email remains unanswered. I noted that I was no longer registered on the Priority Services, and therefore had to reapply. For any Ryers who were initially on the Register, I strongly recommend that you check that you still are.
Good idea Jane, it looks like SW aren’t following their own or anyone else’s processes.
Once again Simon, things are not always as they seem. Without going into detail here, I suggest that you contact Sally-Ann Hart MP who is fully up to speed on the Hastings problems which are not all Southern Water’s fault.
Utterly unbelievable that the share owners get dividends while the company can’t sort out leaks ect ect, it would be a joke if it wasn’t so serious!!
I find that it’s always a good idea to be abreast of the facts before posting.
Can I respectfully suggest that you read the following report that Fairlight and Southern Water have prepared. By engaging properly, rather than just moaning, we have made things happen in Fairlight that will benefit everyone as far as Rye Harbour.
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/media/7969/fairlight-pathfinder-technical-report-260123.pdf
No excuse but it’s worth noting that SW have not paid dividends since 2017 and are currently barred from doing so until at least 2025 due to their poor credit rating
Ok Chris, let’s get hold of the facts shall we? The fact is that Southern Water are lagging behind in all but one of Ofwats key areas in their latest report. In fact the entire report does not paint a pretty picture for Southern.
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Water-Company-Performance-Report-2022-23.pdf
What facts are Southern Water hiding from us? While many Rye households have had some water supply restored, those of us in the Rock Channel area have little and often none. SW’s website announcements hint obliquely that Rock Channel has additional problems but these are not spelt out. Calls to the helpline number when eventually answered provided no illumination with the call handlers admitting that “they knew no more than was in the announcements”!
If any MP, Councillor or journalist knows more please do tell and kindly put the boot into SW to better inform their paying customers.
In the 2 roads I am aware of water for the vulnerable in Winchelsea Beach were left outside empty holiday homes…couldn’t even ensure the most vulnerable actually received water.
Information would also have helped……
Just walk around the town and see how much bottled water has been left on holiday homes doorsteps, my wife asked for a delivery as she is disabled and is still waiting, this water distribution has been a complete fiasco.
There was some sort of list of vulnerable people that Southern Water used to deliver bottled water but clearly not a comprehensive one. I agree there was an issue with bottled water being delivered and just left in houses’ gardens or on doorsteps. Some properties received water at lower pressure throughout the incident; others received it intermittently and some people had no tap water at all. This was a very serious incident for Southern Water, mainly because of its duration.
Yes, SW has not paid dividends since September 2017, but the point about monopoly water companies focusing on directing profits to investors is a fair one. In a publicly owned system, earnings would be used to upgrade water infrastructure. We now hear the water companies are demanding substantial increases in water prices to pay for the multi-billion pound improvements to pipelines, treatment plants, preventing sewage overspills, etc. In other words, the companies will continue to profit from the English public and reward their shareholders, whereas a publicly owned network would have made a better fist of maintaining the infrastructure to date, and prices could have been held down as a result.
Australian investment giant Macquarie bought a 62% share of Southern Water in 2021. Macquarie previously held a large stake in Thames Water and stripped billions in dividends from that company, leaving TW in debt, before divesting itself in 2017.
According to ‘The Guardian’, Macquarie will invest a further £550m into SW in a bid to turn around the troubled company. Earlier, the firm was fined “a record £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage off the north Kent and Hampshire coasts”. In 2022 it discharged “raw sewage for more than 3,700 hours at 83 bathing water beaches during the first eight days of November alone”. A Macquarie executive blamed rainwater runoff (the “legacy storm overflow system”) from roads and urban areas into the sewer network for 98% of all pollution events in the Southern Water network area. He acknowledged that “significant and sustained investment in its infrastructure” was needed.
Some of the water runoff problems in Fairlight are caused by the rapid development of new housing. The solution is simple: money should be spent on isolating rainfall runoff from the sewage network. Why did the pipe fail in Rye? In all probability because it was many decades old and should have been renewed. England’s water network has arguably failed customers since it was first privatised, because there has been inadequate investment in essential infrastructure, whatever the water companies claim.
People might be interested in reading an August 2022 article in the British Medical Journal
‘England’s privatised water: profits over people and planet’
https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o2076
An excerpt: “Access to clean drinking water and sanitation was recognised as a human right in 2010..And just last year, the right to a healthy environment was agreed at the United Nations.. The realisation of both rights is critical to health and wellbeing. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health includes water and sanitation among basic needs for healthy living, and reinforces “the primary role of the state in their universal provision.”
And here is a good overview from The Guardian, 22 November 2022,
England’s Water: the world’s piggy bank’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/nov/30/englands-water-the-worlds-piggy-bank
At least people here are not obliged to trek on foot for hours to get a jug full of polluted, health-threatening water. To get that up close and personal to raw sewage and pollution we just have to take a dip in the sea and the rivers. But that is a choice, in truth. As for drinking water, we certainly remain highly privileged compared to what some fellow creatures have to get by with. Well, so far, anyway.