38 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk October/November 2026 Special Focus Water Management Recent events have shown how quickly disruption can affect essential water services. In January 2026, a major incident was declared after thousands of properties across Kent and Sussex experienced no water, intermittent supply or low pressure. South East Water attributed the disruption to a combination of Storm Goretti, freezing conditions, burst pipes and power cuts, which affected its ability to treat raw water at the normal rate. Ofwat later opened an investigation following repeated outages, including further supply problems linked to freeze-thaw events and Storm Goretti. The incident underlined the importance of resilience across the systems that keep water moving, treated and available to customers. The wider resilience challenge is reflected in recent industry data. CCW’s Water Mark 2025 found that “supply interruptions across the water industry increased by 58% compared with the previous year, with average interruption times rising above regulatory targets”. The power behind water infrastructure Water treatment plants rely on a complex combination of pumps, filtration processes, chemical dosing systems and monitoring equipment. Each of these components depends on stable electrical supply. When grid power is interrupted, even for a short period, the impact can extend beyond operational inconvenience. Reduced treatment capacity can affect service continuity, while disruption to wastewater processes may introduce environmental and regulatory risks. For operators, maintaining continuity is not simply a performance target but a regulatory expectation, with increasing focus on resilience and customer protection. Why backup power needs to be proven To mitigate these risks, many facilities depend on standby generators to support operations during outages. However, installing backup power is only part of the solution. In many cases, generators are tested through routine start-up checks or low load runs that confirm the system can switch on. While this provides reassurance at a basic level, it does not fully demonstrate how the system will behave under sustained demand. A generator that starts successfully is not How load bank testing validates backup power under real demand From drinking water and sanitation to industrial processes, water and wastewater infrastructure is essential to modern life. But treatment plants rely on electrically driven systems that must operate continuously to maintain supply and protect public health. As ageing infrastructure, extreme weather and rising demand place increasing pressure on operations, reliable power is becoming critical to resilience. Andrew Keith, division director of load bank manufacturer Power Prove, explains how load bank testing helps validate backup systems and maintain continuity during mains power disruption.
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