Community’s water supply questions answered at Kent drop-in event

Customers and community leaders took the chance to question Southern Water teams about burning issues and concerns at a special event in Broadstairs.

St Andrew’s Community Hall played host to the drop-in on Tuesday afternoon, before Southern Water representatives also appeared at Thanet District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Margate.

The event was organised after recent instances of customers losing their water supply in the area due to technical faults at the nearby Rumfields Water Tower.

Attendees were keen to find out what Southern Water is doing to improve resilience of supplies, and how they will compensate customers. Meanwhile, colleagues from the Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force discussed work to reduce the use of storm overflows, and there were opportunities to find about other areas of our work.

Ashley Marshman, Head of Operational Customer Service, said: “We are very sorry for the distress and disruption caused over recent months, when customers were left without water on a number of occasions. We know this is unacceptable.

“We welcomed the chance to meet with residents and councillors in Broadstairs, so we could share what we are doing to update the water network in this area, to make it more resilient to power outages and bursts, and to ensure those entitled to compensation were able to access it.”

Southern Water is investing about £1m between 2020 and 2025 on the Rumfields site, having added a new permanent generator and a new system that allows us to switch to alternative supplies during power outages. The water tower has also been relined, allowing it to store more water locally.

We’ve paid £782,000 in compensation to customers and local businesses under our Guaranteed Standards of Service scheme, as a result of recent disruptions.