Anger after Kent water shortage apology from boss of South East Water David Hinton blames working from home, low rainfall and hot weather

The head of a water company has further angered residents after blaming soaring demand for water on more people working from home.

David Hinton, the CEO of South East Water, has posted an open letter on the firm’s website apologising for recent drinking supply shortages.

He said he wanted to “personally apologise” for the many outages in supply that had already been seen across Kent and Sussex this summer.

It comes after several homes in Biddenden, Cranbrook, Staplehurst and Ashford were left with no water or very low pressure, and businesses struggled to remain open. Elsewhere in Tunbridge Wells schools were forced to shut due to a burst water main and residents in Coxheath were left with no water on the hottest day of the year so far.

But the water boss’ message appears to have only succeeded in angering customers still further.

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Mr Hinton explained the company had been unable to meet exceptionally high levels of demand for treated water, which was why it had brought in a hosepipe ban.

He said demand had increased due to “three key factors.”

Firstly, the new post-Covid increase in working from home had led to around a 20% increased demand in commuter towns, putting strains on infrastructure, he claimed.

There had been expectionally low rainfall since April and with water butts and resevoirs drying out, gardeners and farmers had turned to using fresh water on their plants.

Mr Hinton also stressed that his company currently had no shortage of “raw” water in its reservoirs, but it sometimes couldn’t meet the demand for treated water even with all its treatment plants working at full capacity.

Finally, he said, the hot weather had led to a surge in demand as customers tried to stay hydrated or cool off. He said: “Over the past week we have needed to find extra water to supply the equivalent of an additional four towns the size of Maidstone, every day.”

However, Mr Hinton’s “explanations” have failed to convince consumers.

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Ken Crook of Maidstone Road,Staplehurst, said his pressure was so low it was impossible to take a shower and running a bath took three quarters of an hour to fill.

He said: “This hasn’t just happened. It’s been like it for months.”

“If Mr Hinton thinks ‘more people working from home’ is part of the problem, why doesn’t his company ever object to the endless planning applications for more houses in Kent?

“There has been a total lack of infrastructure development over the past three decades, even though the figures for population growth must have been available to him from the Office of National Statistics.

“Who’s fault is this total lack of planning for the future? Mr Hinton’s! He is attemptig to obviate all responisbility while his company rakes in the cash.

“If I had performed so poorly in my job as he has, I would have been sacked, not rewarded with a reported £500k bonus.”

Mr Hinton has only been CEO of South East Water since February 2020, although he has worked for the company since July 2000. His salary is reported to be in excess of £271,000 a year.

His open letter has also been heavily criticised on social media.

Barbara McKeon posted: “His letter made my blood boil. They really need to take ownership of their substandard workmanship instead of heaping the blame on extreme heat and excessive demands and then having the cheek to tell us we need to conserve when there are so many water leaks!”

Her point was taken up by Francesca Wooldridge, who said: “Presumably if more people are using water working from home then less is being consumed in offices.

“He doesn’t mention the 92m litres lost daily in leaks. Enough to supply everybody working at home with a swimming pool!”

While Lucie Cox added: ”I often feel like I live in a third world country here in the South East of England.”

Mr Hinton has invited customers to write to the firm with their comments via this link.

Anyone who has lost water supply may be entitled to compensation under the firm’s guaranteed standards of service.