00:00People are, at the end of their tether, breaking down in tears. They don't know what to do.
00:04The future is uncertain for Kent's water supply as support runs dry.
00:10Last week, during the hottest May days on record, hot and bothered residents across the county
00:16turned the taps and were met with nothing. Businesses shut up, residents queued for bottled
00:22water and while most of the county have supplies restored, some residents in rural areas around
00:28Maidstone have gone 11 days without consistent supply. The first couple of days you work around
00:34it but it gradually, as the time goes on and it's again and again, it really does have kind of
00:39a real
00:40mental effect as well as physical. It's just exhausting having to remind the children not to
00:45flush the toilet or to go there or if they need a drink, when to get one and how to
00:50get one.
00:51In response, the leader of Kent County Council has launched her strategy to try and hold the
00:57water company responsible to account. What I'm going to do is set up the Kent Water Resilience
01:03Partnership because I think it is about time that somebody, and that somebody is going to be me,
01:08sets up a working group with strategic oversight to look at the resilience of the water supply
01:14across the entire county. Now the purpose of that group is going to be to bring together all the
01:21organisations responsible, that's the water companies and their regulators, into one space.
01:26And if I need to bang a few heads together, I'm fairly good at that.
01:30But South East Water, who have attributed supply issues over the last six months to a number of
01:36factors, from cold weather to hot weather to issues pumping water to higher ground, were unable to
01:43confirm that the end was in sight to us.
01:45We absolutely recognise that this interruption is, again, unacceptable really, after the
01:54earlier incidents in Tunbridge Wells and that occurred over the winter due to other reasons.
02:02Obviously, because of climate change, we are starting to see more intense weather extremes occurring.
02:10We are also, as a company, in recognition of this, investing more money over the next few years than
02:16we've ever invested before, £2.1 billion to improve our resilience.
02:21Nick Price went one step further with the BBC, confirming that there was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again.
02:28But with the weather only set to get hotter as Kemp moves into summer, and still 117 households in
02:36Merriworth still left hanging out to dry, the water company continues to leave residents thirsty for answers.
02:44Megan Shaw, for KMTV
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