As many of you will be aware, a hosepipe ban, enforced by South East Water, has come into force today, preventing use of a hosepipe, unless the following circumstances apply:
- It is required for unavoidable health and safety reasons, such as removing or minimising any risk to human or animal health or safety or preventing or controlling the spread of causative agents or disease.
- The welfare and/or health and safety of animals (including fish) would otherwise be affected.
- It is not connected to mains water, such as using a water butt or other recycled water system.
- You are unable to, or may find it hard to, make adaptations and are registered with the company's Priority Services Register.
Among the reasons put forward by South East Water for this latest hosepipe ban is that the company says there is an increased demand for water because of an increased number of residents in and around Tunbridge Wells working from home.
My own view is that customers should not be blamed for what are South East Water’s failures. The hosepipe ban is because of inadequate investment in infrastructure, which failed in midsummer six months after it failed in midwinter.
An upgrade to the capacity of the water treatment plants and pipe networks must be implemented now and I have asked to meet the Chief Executive of Ofwat, the water regulator, to discuss in detail South East Water’s plans and how Ofwat can ensure they are delivered on an accelerated timetable.
I will provide a further update following this meeting.