A boil water notice has been lifted in Tunbridge Wells following the water outage that was declared a major incident.

The outage that began on November 29 was caused by issues with water quality and disinfection at Pembury Water Treatment Works, according to South East Water, and had affected more than 24,000 households and businesses in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas.

While water had become available again by December 3, a notice had been issued instructing residents to boil water before drinking, preparing food, and washing dishes, or to use bottled water that had been distributed via deliveries and stations in the area.

Leader of Kent County Council, Cllr Linden Kemkaran, yesterday expressed her ‘deep concern regarding the recent catastrophic failure of water supply services provided by South East Water’ in a letter to the Secretary of State.

Cllr Kemkaran urged the Government to deliver a ‘dedicated compensation/recovery fund to provide meaningful and urgent financial relief to affected businesses and residents’.

Chief Executive of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, William Benson, had also declared the situation ‘wholly unacceptable’, while Tunbridge Wells BC leader Cllr Ben Chapelard labelled the incident ‘another water catastrophe’.

An update has since been provided by South East Water, alerting members of the community that the boil water notice has been lifted ‘with immediate effect’ and confirming that water can now be consumed and used as normal.

‘We have changed our treatment processes to meet strict standards and flushed the network, so you can be sure the water is safe’, the notice reads.

It also highlights that customers will ‘receive compensation for both the water supply interruption and the boil water notice’.

‘We recognise the disruption this incident has caused and are committed to compensating you fairly’, it adds.