Villagers seeking water supply improvements

Residents of a Kent village have held a meeting to discuss how they can make a water company improve supplies.

South East Water customers in Ulcombe, near Maidstone, say the pressure often drops and it can be difficult to get a supply.

One farmer who lives at the top of Ulcombe, says he has installed his own water tanks for when the supply stops.

The water company has been approached for comment.

Patrick McGinley, from the Ulcombe Water Watch group, said: "It was set up to monitor water outages and issues in the town.

"We keep track and that data gets passed on to the council and the MP.

"It is a lot worse than I thought it was going to be, it's happening on a regular basis," he said.

"They need to sort the water pressure out at the top of the hill. We live in a modern world and we can't get water."

He says South East Water blames the water and hot weather.

"They need to be more transparent and honest, they never mention the amount of water they lose," he said.

A recent report from the Consumer Council for Water found more than half of the thousands of South East Water customers it surveyed stored bottled water at home in case of future incidents and almost a fifth of people only drank bottled water.

The company has recently apologised to customers across Kent and Sussex for a series of disruptions since November 2025.

As of 00:01 on Friday, the water company is now enforcing a hosepipe ban which covers all the properties it serves in Kent.

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