00:00So we're here today in Hastings to talk to our customers, listen and give them assurances
00:06that we're taking action to improve the performance that they're currently experiencing in the
00:12Hastings area.
00:13We recognise we're not performing where we should be, which we're sorry for, and therefore
00:17we want to talk to them and just reassure them that we're taking action, and one of
00:21those is around our water event that we saw in early May of this year, where we had 35,000
00:27properties out of water for a number of days, which impacted clearly customers doing their
00:32day-to-day life, but also for the businesses in the area, which was a very important time
00:37for them in the Jack and the Green festival.
00:39So I'll just take you through what happened and what we're looking to do about it.
00:43So what happened was at Darwell Service Reservoir, there's a big pumping station that feeds Bowport
00:48Water Supply Works, which is the big works that feeds about two-thirds of the Hastings
00:53area.
00:54That pipe burst just around about here, in very dense woodland, we had to fell 50 trees
01:00just to get to it, nearly had to call the army, it was that serious to get to.
01:06One of the most difficult locations I've seen in my career in 20 years, it was very, very
01:09hard for us to get to, it took time to find it, then it took time to fix it, it's a very
01:15complex main, it's reinforced concrete, it's not a quick pipe to fix, which we did, and
01:20then it takes a long time to then fill the reservoir, fill the pipe up, and then the
01:24water supply works here is a biological process, you can't just turn a switch and turn it on,
01:30it takes time to get the works working, and then because this whole area was dry, again
01:34it takes time for the pipes to fill up with water, so clearly a major incident for us,
01:39which we're deeply, deeply sorry, we had a massive response, probably one of the biggest
01:44water responses in the industry ever, we gave nearly 14 million bottles of water out
01:51to customers, a humongous amount of water was given to our customers.
01:56What are we doing about it?
01:57We've just commissioned a resilience report for the area, and have just submitted a report
02:02to our regulator, Ofwat, asking for nearly 40 million pounds to invest in the water infrastructure
02:08in Hastings over the next five years, clearly we need to go through a regulatory process
02:12with Ofwat to secure that funding, that funding is very, very important because we're going
02:17to look to resolve that risk.
02:19There's a few options that we're studying, do we replace that pipe, do we put a new pipe
02:24from Powder Mill to Bowport, or do we even upsize Breed to then have a bigger potable
02:29network that feeds this area, so that's going through a study at the moment, and that will
02:34be completed, the study will be completed next year, the works will be completed by
02:392029, 2030.
02:42We are going to take that plan to the council in mid-November to give them assurances of
02:47that plan, for them to hold us to account on that plan, and we'll work with them going
02:51forward to deliver the performance they need.
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