Flooding could force SES Water works closure

Sutton and East Surrey Water (SES Water) is fighting the floods to prevent a forced shutdown of its Kenley Water Treatment Works.

According to the water company, employees are “working 24 hours a day” to protect the works in Surrey,  which supplies water to more than 46,000 properties and 116,000 customers.

The company says that if it does have to shut down water treatment it is planning to supply its customers by re-routing additional supplies from other treatment works.

Anthony Ferrar, SES Water’s managing director, said: “We are doing all we can to protect Kenley treatment works and our teams are working round the clock to manage the incident.  Flood water has been pumped away from the site and the flooding has abated somewhat over the weekend, but the weather forecast this week remains a serious concern. Maintaining the quality of our drinking water is our overriding priority.”

SES Water said it was working closely with Croydon Council, the London Fire Brigade, and the Environment Agency to ensure flood defence work and efforts to remove the water are coordinated because the flooding has affected a wide area.

Sandbag and other defences have been placed around key operating buildings and plant, and pumps have been installed to take water away from the site.

Meanwhile, network engineers are checking plans for supplying customers from other treatment works in the event that the site is overwhelmed.

“While we hope for the best we are prepared for the worst,” said Ferrar.

“We would very much regret having to shut down Kenley treatment works and are doing all we can to make sure it does not happen but this is a major incident and if the site is overwhelmed our overriding concern has to be to ensure the integrity and safety of our water supply,” he added.