Tuesday 6
January in Committee Room 6, Palace of
Westminster
After tens of thousands of residents in Kent were left without
drinking water for 14 days due to failures at a treatment
centre, David Hinton, the Chief Executive of the
water company that oversaw the problems, will face questions
from MPs on the EFRA Committee.
South East Water told residents in Tunbridge Wells and
surrounding villages on 29 November that water from
their taps was unsuitable for
drinking, bathing, giving to pets or brushing
teeth.
The safety notice remained in place until 12 December when
treatment works resumed and the risk of
contamination ended.
Hinton was invited to attend
the evidence session by Committee Chair MP as the incident
unfolded.
Also appearing will be Marcus Rink, Chief Inspector of the
Drinking Water Inspectorate, which launched an ongoing
investigation on 4 December. The
organisation warned South East Water in
2024 of a significant risk of failure at the
Pembury treatment centre.
In this session, the witnesses are likely to be asked questions
about the planning, resilience and capacity of the
supplier's infrastructure, as well as communications with the
public and leadership.
The Committee is undertaking a long-term inquiry and last year
published a report, Priorities for water sector
reform. The Committee recently wrote to water companies
about their approaches to recovering debts from vulnerable
customers.
Witnesses on 6 January:
Panel 1, at 10.00am:
·
David Hinton, Chief Executive at South
East Water
Panel 2, at 11.15am:
· Marcus Rink, Chief
Inspector at Drinking Water Inspectorate
