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Mar 21 2024

‘Nice work if you can get it’: Scottish water regulator spent public money on gift cards, travel and course in US | UK News

A public body that spent more than £77,000 to send a senior executive to take a course at Harvard University in the US has defended the decision, by telling MSPs it invests in its staff to stop them from being “poached”.

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) – which regulates Scottish Water – was accused of “poor governance” with public funds in a report by the Auditor General last year, and today faced scrutiny at Holyrood.

Its representatives insisted the culture had changed at the regulator, as they struggled to justify questionable spending highlighted in last year’s audit – including £2,600 to provide every staff member with a £100 gift card for Christmas and £402 on a dinner for two.

The report by the Auditor General found that the “financial management and governance issues found at the commission fall far short of what is expected of a public body”.

After the report, WICS chief executive Alan Sutherland quit with immediate effect in December and was awarded six months’ pay in lieu of his contractual notice period. While an exact figure for this was not provided, in 2021 the commission said the chief executive officer’s annual salary was more than £165,000.

A total of £77,350 was claimed for the Harvard Business School course attended by chief operating officer Michelle Ashford, which included business class flights to Boston.

Approval was only sought afterwards for the expenses, despite Scottish government approval being required in advance for any service above £20,000.

‘We find it difficult to compete with private sector’

Holyrood’s public audit committee criticised the money spent on the Harvard course during its meeting on Thursday.

MSP Jamie Greene questioned whether the organisation had been “running like a private sector business instead of a public sector body”.

Professor Donald MacRae, chair of the board at WICS, said the board should have been asked for approval first and accepted that the value for money for the Harvard course was “not fully demonstrated and the business case was inadequate”.

However, he explained: “WICS is a small public body operating in a very complex and specialised area, and we do find it difficult to compete on salaries with the private sector and actually to retain staff.

“And our staff are frequently subject to approaches to being poached, actually.

“Now, we recognise that our staff are our most important asset, and we take the view that we have to invest in them. And we have to invest in them by offering advanced management training.”

Despite Professor MacRae’s argument about retaining staff, the committee also heard no conditions were put in place ito ensure Ms Ashford stayed with WICS for a certain period of time after attending the course in the US.

Going forward, Professor MacRae said WICS will “still adhere to the policy of investing” in its staff.

But he added the organisation will look for alternative training “within Scotland or the UK at much lower cost” in the future, to deliver “better value for money”.

Richard Leonard MSP, committee convener, accused Jon Rathjen, deputy director for water policy at the Scottish government, of being “complicit” in the failures at WICS, in that he did not challenge the spending on the Harvard course.

Mr Rathjen accepted he “made an error of judgement” in relying on an assurance from the WICS chief executive.

He said WICS had approached the Scottish government to approve the spending retrospectively and refusing it would not have achieved anything.

‘Nice work if you can get it’

With regards to other spending at WICS, MSP Graham Simpson raised a £402.41 meal at the Champany Inn in Linlithgow, West Lothian, where then chief executive Mr Sutherland was dining with an official from the New Zealand government in October 2022.

David Satti, who has recently become the interim accountable officer at WICS, said no itemised receipt had been provided and the expense had been covered on an office credit card, adding: “We have no way of knowing the exact items that were purchased.”

Professor MacRae said the meal had been wrongly coded as “subsistence” but nevertheless had been “instrumental” in securing income of £1.2m from New Zealand.

Mr Simpson was also told that WICS workers sent to New Zealand were allowed to book business class as the flight is over six hours.

The MSP sarcastically responded: “Nice work if you can get it.”

Colin Beattie MSP questioned whether it was “unusual” for a public body to give staff members Christmas vouchers.

In regards to the £100 gift cards, which exceeded the £75 limit for gifts, Professor MacRae said: “You must remember the situation we were in, a situation where we were all operating remotely and still in the process of recovering from COVID.

“That was the background to the decision.”

It was heard that WICS has no intention to give out gift cards to staff members at Christmas in the future.

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At the start of the meeting, Professor MacRae said there had been a “change of culture and focus on value for money” since the Audit Scotland report.

But MSP Willie Coffey delivered a damning verdict on the spending at WICS, saying: “I’ve been a member of the parliament, in the audit committee on and off for 17 years, and I have to say to you colleagues that this is one of the worst sessions I’ve ever participated in.”

WICS has a statutory duty to promote the interests of Scottish Water’s customers. It is funded via a levy on Scottish Water.

The organisation has 26 staff and had an income of about £5.3m last year.

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Mar 18 2024

The Crown actor condemns Southern Water over raw sewage pumped into heavily protected river | Climate News

The Crown actor James Murray has accused a water company of “lying through its teeth” for blaming heavy rain for sewage pollution in a heavily protected river.

The environmental campaigner and fly-fishing enthusiast, who portrayed Prince Andrew in the hit drama, said Southern Water should have invested in its infrastructure long ago to prevent its sewers being overwhelmed by extreme weather.

Instead, sewage has been allowed to pour into the River Test, a chalk stream that is one of the rarest habitats on Earth.

He told Sky News: “Every year they say it is a special year and it won’t happen again. It’s nonsense. They lie through their teeth.

“Yes, it might have been a very damp February, but that doesn’t mean they should be putting raw sewage directly into the river. It is unforgivable.”

Southern Water says its Fullerton wastewater works near Andover has been overwhelmed and to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes it has had to allow it to flow into the river untreated.

The current regulations allow water companies to discharge raw sewage during extreme rainfall.

But river conservationists say the persistent flow of human waste this winter has resulted in ecological damage.

Sky News saw grey tufts of “sewage fungus” wafting in the river current.

It’s a gelatinous slime of viruses, bacteria and other organisms that grows quickly in water that’s heavily polluted with nutrients. It sucks up oxygen, suffocating life that should be in the river.

Phil Parker, a river keeper who maintains a stretch of the Test, demonstrated the impact by doing a “kick sample”.

He stirred up the riverbed with his feet to collect invertebrates living in the silt.

In a sample from a clean section of the river, there was a huge abundance and variety of life.

But in the area affected by sewage, there was comparatively little.

He said: “The samples are a clear indicator that the sewage is killing our invertebrates.

“It’s killing an ecosystem that’s already fragile anyway with the changing climate and the extreme weather patterns we have coming through.”

The south of the UK had twice the normal rainfall in February, capping a wet winter and raising the water table underground.

Southern Water showed Sky News video of water being forced at high pressure into sewage pipes through cracks and joints.

It says it has lined the public network with a special sheath, that it likens to a sausage skin, to keep water out in future.

But it has only recently begun work on pipes on customers’ property. It could be 2030 before all the pipes are fixed.

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Nick Mills, Director of Environment for the company said: “I understand the frustration, and we share many of their outcomes in what they want to see happen.

“But it is a large, complex issue, and we are in some extreme conditions right now.”

Rivers up and down the country are affected by sewage pollution.

Campaigners are hoping to seize on public anger to turn it into an election issue, and force water companies to clean up their act.

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Feb 12 2024

Water bosses to face ban on bonuses – but move ‘too weak and feeble’, say Liberal Democrats | UK News

Bosses of water companies responsible for illegal sewage spills are to face a ban on their bonuses after years of campaigns and public outrage.

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay announced payouts would be blocked to chiefs who oversee the polluting of rivers, lakes, and seas – starting with bonuses in the financial year starting this April.

It was revealed bosses received more than £26m in bonuses, benefits, and incentives over the last four years.

Analysis by the Labour Party found nine water chief executives were paid £10m in bonuses, £14m in incentives and £603,580 in benefits since 2019.

Senior executives from five of the 11 water companies that deal with sewage took bonuses last year, while the other six, including heads of Yorkshire Water and Thames Water, declined after public anger.

There has been outrage around the illegal activity and calls by Labour and the Liberal Democrats to enforce the policy sooner, as water firms in England plan to hike customers’ bills by an extra £156 a year to invest in Britain’s Victorian infrastructure.

While Mr Barclay said he was “pleased” regular Ofwat was addressing bonuses following water companies’ poor performances, political opponents said the ban was “too weak and feeble”.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson and MP, Tim Farron, said: “Finally ministers have buckled to a campaign led by the Liberal Democrats over two years ago, but even now this attempt to ban bonuses sounds too weak and feeble.”

Mr Farron added the firms got away with “environmental vandalism” and called for the bonuses to be banned “today, regardless of criminal conviction”.

Ofwat will consult on details of the proposed ban later this year, including to define the criteria.

This could include successful prosecution for the two most serious categories of pollution – such as causing significant pollution at a bathing site or conservation area, or where a company has been found guilty of serious management failings – according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It could apply to chief executives and all executive board members.

On the proposal, Mr Barclay said: “No one should profit from illegal behaviour and it’s time that water company bosses took responsibility for that.

“In cases where companies have committed criminal breaches there is no justification whatsoever for paying out bonuses. It needs to stop now.”

Labour claimed it was the spearhead for this change, with a statement from shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed MP, saying: “Once again Labour leads, the Conservatives follow.”

He called for the Tories to “back Labour’s plan” to clean up the rivers and prosecute executives responsible for illegal sewage dumping.

Read more:
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‘Sewage pumped into sea’ turns idyllic Cornwall cove brown

Labour said that under its plans, Ofwat could have blocked six out of nine water bosses’ bonuses last year.

Last year, Thames Water – which supplies one in four people in Britain – was fined more than £3m after pleading guilty to illegally discharging waste.

This included “millions of litres” of undiluted sewage near Gatwick Airport in 2017, which turned the water “black” and killed more than 1,000 fish.

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Jan 7 2024

UK weather: Govt told to ‘wake up and smell the flood water’ amid warning more homes will be affected | UK News

The government is being urged to “wake up and smell the flood water” following Storm Henk – amid fears that climate change is making extreme weather events more common.

More than 1,800 properties have flooded after heavy downpours fell on already sodden ground, and the Environment Agency has warned more homes will be affected as river levels remain high.

Follow latest updates on the UK floods

Mary Long-Dhonau, a long-time campaigner for flood resilience, has told Sky News that she believes the government has failed to do enough to prepare for such a storm.

She is urging Rishi Sunak to visit flooded communities, and see first-hand what homeowners are going through after their properties were “absolutely devastated”.

“Having filthy, stinking flood water violate your home is absolutely awful. Your home is your castle and people naturally want to look after it,” Ms Long-Dhonau said.

The campaigner, who has experienced the impact of flooding for herself, warned affected families will now have to “project manage a building site” while their homes are repaired.

She also called for farmers to receive greater support after their fields were inundated with water, and said natural flood management measures must be introduced nationwide.

The government has unveiled a financial package for eligible areas in England that have suffered exceptional localised flooding.

Flooded households can receive £500 in cash to assist with immediate costs, council tax relief for at least three months, and up to £5,000 to make their properties more flood resilient in the future.

Support is also being made available to businesses – with grants of up to £2,500 so they can reopen.

Meanwhile, farmers who have suffered uninsurable damage to their land are eligible to receive as much as £25,000.

Read more UK news:
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‘Remain vigilant,’ Environment Agency warns

While rainfall has subsided, river levels remain elevated and are expected to stay this way for several days.

According to the Environment Agency (EA), parts of the River Thames in Oxfordshire – as well as the River Trent near Nottingham and the River Severn including Glocuester – are cause for concern.

As of 1am on Sunday, 192 flood warnings – meaning flooding is expected – are still in force. There are also 207 flood alerts that indicate flooding is possible.

Emergency responders are using temporary pumps, barriers and defences in an attempt to stop further homes and businesses from being flooded.

EA flood duty manager Katharine Smith said: “We urge people not to drive through flood water… it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.”

Check the latest weather forecast where you are

Mostly dry today

Sky News weather presenter Jo Wheeler says showery rain in the North and North East will fizzle out over time – and there will be a few showers in the South and South East, too.

She added: “Elsewhere, it’ll be dry with some good sunny spells where the fog clears.”

Daytime temperatures are set to remain below 5C (41F) for many – and the UK Health Security Agency has a cold weather alert in force until Friday.

However, the weather is set to be fairly settled over the next few days, and the Met Office currently has no warnings in force.

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Nov 5 2023

‘Where is the water?’: Residents queue to collect bottles after major incident leaves thousands without water supply | UK News

A major incident has been declared by Surrey County Council as thousands of households are without water.

Thames Water has apologised to residents for the inconvenience, saying it is dealing with the “technical issues” at Shalford treatment works in Guildford “caused by Storm Cairan”.

It has meant residents have had to travel to bottled water stations set up at Godalming Crown Court car park and Arlington Park and ride in Old Portsmouth Road.

At the water station in Godalming, dozens of cars backed up waiting for water causing congestion in the local area.

Thames Water representatives have been handing out two cases per household, with each case containing 12 bottles.

“I’m furious,” said Serena Howard from Milford, who had been waiting in the queue for two hours to collect cases of water for herself and her neighbours.

“Where is the water for the people?” she asked.

Ms Howard said she was supposed to be on a priority list to get water delivered to her house because she and her daughter both have medical issues, but said she struggled to get through to anyone who could help and had to make the journey to collect it herself, despite being disabled.

“I have had my large bowel removed so I have diarrhoea… I can’t eat without it going straight through me. We have had to use the pond water to flush the toilet,” she said.

However, Ms Howard explained it was actually her young daughter she was worried about, who has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

She said: “She is running high because she hasn’t had enough fluid today, she hasn’t had enough fluid to keep the sugar down, in her case if it drops too low it’s dangerous, if she goes too high – she is damaging her organs.”

Ms Howard eventually collected seven cases in total, some for her and others for her neighbours who she said have small children.

She was happy to help, but said: “I don’t feel it [should] be up to a disabled person to have to go out and help the others.”

Read more:
Flood warnings remain after Storm Ciaran – but rain expected to pass

Posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, Thames Water said: “We’ve made progress fixing the supply issues but need to refill reservoirs. We’re providing bottled water till 9pm and expect to do so again tomorrow.”

But there is a concern that if the technical issues are not fixed, it could mean children being kept off school come Monday – with parents having to find last-minute child care cover.

Paul is among those concerned, as the water in his household ran out on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s affected a lot. We can’t wash or anything, we can’t do anything. It’s terrible”

He explained he and his wife both work full time, and he was worried if schools had to close due to the outage they would have to figure out what to do with his children.

“One of us will have to take a day off to look after them,” he said. “It’s not good. Not good at all.”

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Nov 5 2023

Major incident declared after issue leaves thousands without water – and more set to lose supply | UK News

Thousands of people have been left without water on Sunday due to an issue at a Thames Water treatment works.

Thames Water apologised to residents in Godalming, Surrey, and said it was investigating.

Jeremy Hunt, the MP for the area, said a major incident had been declared. He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was very concerned and had spoken to the CEO of Thames Water.

It follows issues caused by Storm Ciaran at Shalford water treatment works, Thames Water said.

Mr Hunt said he was told by the CEO at 2.50pm that 13,500 customers did not have water and a further 6,500 were expected to lose supply shortly.

The site controls had been reset and were being tested, he added.

“If this is successful, they can increase production to a level that will restore supply,” he said.

Surrey County Council confirmed a major incident had been declared in the area, telling Sky News it was “due to the number of properties affected” and also due to the incident occurring on a Sunday, when fewer staff are around.

Read more:
Flood warnings remain after Storm Ciaran – but rain expected to pass

Bottled water stations have been set up at the Crown Court car park in Godalming and Artington park and ride in Guildford.

Thames Water said it was also delivering bottled water to vulnerable customers.

Thames Water said its engineers were on site and tankers were being used to pump water into its supply network.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to those people who have no water or lower pressure than normal.

“[We] are doing all we can to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”

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Aug 30 2023

Swansea: Car ‘goes into water’ at marina | UK News

A car has gone “into the water” at a marina in Swansea.

South Wales Police confirmed its officers had attended along with colleagues from other emergency services.

They were called to reports of the incident shortly after 10am on Wednesday.

Pictures from the scene show multiple police vehicles and ambulances in attendance.

The air ambulance was also at the scene and a police cordon was put in place.

A spokesperson for the Wales Ambulance Service said the service was called at around 10.01am.

“We sent four hazardous area response teams, one air ambulance, two Cymru high acuity response units, one duty operational manager and one emergency ambulance to the scene where we were assisted by colleagues from the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service who travelled by air,” they added in a statement.

It is not yet known if anyone was in the vehicle at the time.

The incident is currently ongoing and no further details are available at this time.

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Jul 4 2023

Thames Water fined more than £3m over sewage spill that turned rivers black near Gatwick Airport | UK News

Thames Water have been fined more than £3m after admitting polluting rivers.

The company, which supplies one in four people in Britain with water, had pleaded guilty to four charges relating to illegally discharging waste.

It was fined £3.3m at Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday.

The court heard “millions of litres” of undiluted sewage was pumped into the Gatwick Stream and River Mole between Crawley in West Sussex and Horley in Surrey on 11 October, 2017.

The hearing was told that the spill turned the water “black” and killed more than 1,000 fish.

Judge Christine Laing KC said that she believed the firm had shown a “deliberate attempt” to mislead the Environment Agency over the incident, by omitting water readings and submitting a report to the regulator denying responsibility.

The company has previously been fined £32.4m for pollution incidents in the Thames Valley and south-west London between 2017 and 2021.

During the first day of the hearing on Monday, the court heard how a storm pump at Crawley Sewage Treatment Works site was unexpectedly diverting sewage to its storm tank for 21 hours and went “unnoticed”.

Prosecutor Sailesh Mehta estimated untreated sewage was spilling into the river for six and a half hours after no alarm was raised.

When an alarm was raised the lead technician was unreachable as they were waiting for a new mobile phone.

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Eyewitness accounts read in court said how they saw the river turn “black” and “grey”, with “huge numbers of dead fish” visible in the water.

Nearly 1,400 dead fish were recovered from the rivers by the Environment Agency following the incident.

Lisa Roberts KC, representing Thames Water, said the firm expresses its “unreserved and sincere apology” for the incident, adding: “Put bluntly, it shouldn’t have happened and Thames deeply regrets the event.”

She said the company rejects that previous issues were to blame for the spillage, putting it down to a “faulty switch” in the storm pump which meant the incident could not have been predicted.

A £33m plan to improve the Crawley site has been put in place since the incident, according to Ms Roberts, with aims to complete it by the end of March 2025.

New systems have also been rolled out across other Thames Water sites to prevent such incidents happening again.

The fine comes as the company faces concerns over its future amid a mounting £14bn debt.

Thames Water’s chief executive Sarah Bentley stepped down with immediate effect last week after she gave up her bonus due to the company’s environmental performance.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a record £90m for nearly 7,000 incidents of illegal discharge of sewage across Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.

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Jun 28 2023

From privatisation to profits: How providing clean water became a murky business | UK News

The revelation that ministers are considering bringing Thames Water into temporary public ownership has reopened the fierce debate over the privatisation of the country’s water industry.

The sudden resignation of the company’s chief executive and Sky’s exclusive report into government contingency plans for the firm’s potential collapse comes amid growing calls for change following a string of controversies and scandals to hit the sector in recent years.

‘Vast improvement’

The current system of private monopolies dates back to 1989 when Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher sold off the publicly-owned water and sewage industry in England and Wales for £7.6bn.

She vowed it would lead to a new era of investment, improve water quality and help bring down bills. Her government also wrote off all debts and established Ofwat to regulate the industry.

Supporters argue that the water industry is now significantly better, while also acknowledging improvements are still needed.

Water UK, the industry body which represents firms, said on the 30th anniversary of privatisation in 2019 that the situation had “vastly improved” with a fall in supply problems, pollution, and leaks thanks to nearly £160bn worth of investment over the decades.

It also claimed that “average bills today are broadly the same as 20 years ago, once inflation is taken into account”.

However this is disputed.

‘The most egregious rip off’

Opponents say privatisation has led to soaring bills, poor performance and years of under-investment, and claim that the pay of executives and shareholders has been prioritised at the expense of long-suffering customers.

They also point to a National Audit Office study in 2015 which found that average household bills had risen 40% above inflation since 1989.

Water firms have also accrued £54bn in debt since privatisation – but paid out dividends to shareholders of £66bn, according to an analysis by The Guardian newspaper last year, with 20% of bills going towards servicing debt or paying out dividends on average.

Those calling for renationalisation include Labour’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who responded to Sky’s latest report on Thames Water by describing it on Twitter as “the most egregious rip off” of all the firms.

Regulator row

Meanwhile regulator Ofwat has also been accused of lacking the necessary teeth to take on water companies.

Critics include the Liberal Democrats, who have called for the body to be abolished and “replaced with a tough new independent regulator with real powers”.

The government has vowed to increase penalties, with Environment Secretary Therese Coffey proposing earlier his year measures including unlimited fines for firms caught polluting.

Public opinion

Most of the public support renationalisation of the water industry, according to opinion polls.

YouGov found in September 2022 that 63% of the public believed it should be run “entirely in the public sector”.

Even among Conservative voters the idea is popular, with 58% in favour, according to the same survey of more than 1,700 adults.

However there appears to be little appetite for such a move from the government , while Labour has backtracked on supporting the policy.

Scandals

For or against privatisation, public dissatisfaction at water firms remains following a string of scandals and controversies.

Water UK confirmed earlier this year that bills would see the biggest increase in almost 20 years from April.

The 7.5% hike means average customers are now paying £31 more annually this year – taking the typical bill to £448.

The industry body then made an an unprecedent public apology following mounting fury over raw sewage being released into Britain’s waters.

Figures from the Environment Agency revealed it was pumped into England’s rivers and seas at least 301,091 times last year – an average of 824 a day.

Water UK said campaigners had been “right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches”.

But there was then further anger when firms admitted a planned £10bn investment in measures to tackle the issue would be funded by a “modest increase” in customers’ bills.

Water leaks have become another major issue – especially at a time of shortages and record high temperatures.

South East Water, which this week introduced a hosepipe ban for two million people in Kent and Sussex, has enraged customers over supply issues.

Residents in East Sussex said they had been left without water for 23 days despite the firm admitting that its reservoirs were topped up and said its infrastructure had struggled to cope with demand.

Meanwhile another firm, Welsh Water, admitted earlier this year that it been under-reporting the amount of leakages it was responsible for.

Multi-million pound profits and eye-watering pay packets for firms have further fuelled discontent.

Thames Water reported pre-tax profits of £493.5m in the six months to September 2022, despite the firm introducing a hosepipe ban for its 15 million customers during the year.

In 2021 the firm paid out £11m compensation after it was caught overcharging customers.

The boss of the company who resigned, Sarah Bentley, was reportedly set to receive pay and perks worth £1.6m this year.

It came after Ms Bentley said earlier this year how she was “heartbroken” about the company’s historical failings – while admitting there had been “decades of underinvestment”.

Sky News understands that talks over the future of Thames Water remain at a preliminary stage and the contingency plans may not need to be activated.

Either way, the pressure and scrutiny on such firms is unlikely to go away any time soon.

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Jun 24 2023

Water company boss blames people working from home for hosepipe ban | UK News

A water company boss has blamed people working from home for a new hosepipe ban.

South East Water will impose the first hosepipe ban of the summer from Monday, affecting more than two million homes and businesses across Kent and Sussex.

Its chief executive, David Hinton, said in a letter to customers that post-pandemic working from home was a “key factor” behind the ban, as it has “increased drinking water demand”.

He wrote: “Over the past three years the way in which drinking water is being used across the southeast has changed considerably.

“The rise of working from home has increased drinking water demand in commuter towns by around 20% over a very short period, testing our existing infrastructure.”

Mr Hinton also blamed low rainfall since April for leaving water butts empty, as well as pointing to a recent spell of hot weather which he claims led to a spike in demand for drinking water.

“Our reservoir and aquifer stocks of raw water, essential to our water supply but not ready to be used, are in a good position. However, demand for treated mains water, which takes time to process and deliver, was greater than we could meet,” he said.

“Over the past week we have needed to find water to supply the equivalent of an additional four towns the size of Maidstone or Eastbourne every day.”

Greg Clark, the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells, told The Times: “Their only job is to deliver drinking water.

UK weather: The latest Sky News forecast

“But in my constituency, they have run out of water twice in six months – once just before Christmas when we had a cold snap, and now after a small and unexceptional heatwave.

“What they’re describing in terms of people working for home is by no means specific to this area.

“There has been for some time a tendency for people to work more from home. A water company should be able to predict and accommodate for this.”

A spokeswoman for the water regulator Ofwat told The Times: “South East Water must do better to predict and manage operational issues, help customers, and engage with them on what is happening and why.

Read more:
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Stop celebrating hot weather, urges leading environmentalist

“Customers will be asking why, for the second time in six months, their water company is being caught out by the weather.”

South East Water’s Head of Service Management, Steve Andrews, defended the ban, saying it was “introduced to ensure that we can deliver drinking water to all our customers consistently”.

He added: “We want to thank our customers for being mindful of their water use and remind them to continue to use water wisely over the coming weekend.”

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