The $30 million toe in the water

The Kent town of Whitstable, once a declining fishing port, has transformed into a desirable seaside destination for affluent Londoners.

However, its renaissance is now under severe threat from the chronic failures of two privatised water companies.

While South East Water caused a devastating outage during a heatwave,Southern Water's outdated sewage infrastructure continues to pollute the pristine coastal waters, jeopardising both public health and the town's tourist economy.

Why 4,000 unsold units became the prize

Not long ago, Whitstable was a slowly dying fishing port.

Today, however, this quaint Roman town on the northern tip of Kent is enjoying a resurgence as a hip seaside playground for affluent young Londoners.

Boarding the coastbound trains from St Pancras on Friday nights, they spend decadent weekends lounging on its Blue Flag beach and washing down Pacific rock oysters - fresh from a farm beside the harbour - with local ales and bottles of fizz.

Many incomers have also bought second homes here, or decamped completely, opting to work from cottages and chalets with stunning views of the Swale estuary and with wild swimming, yachting and surfboarding just beyond their doorsteps.

An echo of Sydney's 2024 institutional buy-up

The resort's newfound prosperity is evident from its soaring property prices (even a candy-coloured beach hut at nearby Tankerton Bay now fetches £60,000), vibrant cultural scene, trendy bars and seafood shacks.

As planners are set to sanction the building of almost 2,000 new houses in Whitstable by 2043, with new residents swelling its 32,000 population by 15 per cent, this historic maritime town's future might seem assured.

Who is the unnamed buyer?

Disgracefully, however, it is being threatened by the shameful ineptitude of the two water companies that serve its residents and businessfolk - or at least purport to do so.

In the 37 years since 1989, when England's water industry fell into the hands of private investors - whose only interest was lining their pockets - its list of catastrophic failings has grown exponentially.

The latest villains are South West Water, fined £1.8 million this week for allowing cryptosporidium from animal faeces to contaminate drinking water in Devon; and South East Water (SEW), whose woeful inability to cope with increased demand during the recent heatwave caused taps to run dry in 22,000 properties across Kent.

Tehran's two-track response

Among the towns to thirst and rage through last week's unforewarned 'outage' was Whitstable - which surely epitomises the scandalous state of our water industry more starkly than anywhere else in England.

For this newly chic resort is being caught between two serially failing water companies: SEW - the devils who repeatedly leave residents and businesses without supplies - and Southern Water (SW), which handles its waste disposal with similar ineptitude, and is quietly turning its seemingly pristine bathing water into a dirty brown sea.