Kent water crisis: 4,500 homes still without supply

On 18 January 2026 Sky News reported that about 4,500 homes in rural Maidstone villages – Harrietsham, Kingswood, Coxheath and Headcorn – and several hundred in Tunbridge Wells have little or no running water. South East Water blamed an electrical fault at a treatment works and slow tank refilling for the disruption that began a week earlier. Supply is expected to be restored by the end of that Sunday for the Maidstone area, while Bidborough residents may see water again on Monday. The company set up bottled‑water stations at Mote Park, Headcorn Aerodrome, Harrietsham Village Hall and Bidborough Village Hall. This follows a six‑day outage that left 30,000 homes without water and triggered a major incident declaration and an Ofwat probe.