Water company accused of lack of urgency as pipe leaks for two weeks (VIDEO)
GALLONS of water have been gushing out from a broken pipe for almost two weeks, say locals.
A stream trickling down a 20-yard stretch of Grainsby Close, off Rookery Lane, has appeared in the last fortnight.
-
The leak has cased a 20-yard stream to flow down Grainsby Close, Lincoln.
Residents say they believe this is the fourth or fifth leak from the pipe in recent years, but there has been a lack of urgency to repair the current problem despite repeated calls for help.
A safety fence was initially put around the broken pipe to prevent children from playing in the water.
But Anglian Water engineers are expected to finally fix the leak today – almost two weeks after residents say they first contacted the company.
Grainsby Close residents said they felt the lack of urgency to fix the pipe is the latest snub for their street in recent years, which has left it feeling like a "ghost town".
Linda Smith, of Grainsby Close, off Rookery Lane, Lincoln, said the delays in fixing the problem and the amount of water being wasted was "disgusting".
The 61-year-old said: "The leak has been like that for nearly a fortnight.
"There are gallons of water going down the drain. Water companies are telling people not to use hose pipes because they are short of water, but they are letting gallons go down the drain.
"If the leak is left like this it will get worse and worse and worse. Anglian Water will lose all that water – they are already losing lots now.
"I've never known anything like it in my life."
Louise Barker, 37, added: "It should not take that long to fix.
"Companies can dig up roads quickly, but when it comes to something like this they just leave it."
Neighbour Tony Gower, 52, said: "This is the worst leak. It's been running like that for more than a week.
"It's a good job we don't have water meters, as I'm sure it would be going on our water bills."
Judith Gower, 41, added: "You think it's raining outside, but it's the leak."
An Anglian Water spokesman told the Echo: "We would like to apologise to the residents of Grainsby Close for any disruption this leak has caused and understand that this is not the first occasion that this has happened.
"We have made temporary fixes during this period to prevent the flow of water. Our engineers will be on site today to repair the problem and restore the road.
"We intend for this to be a permanent fix."
Watch the video of how much water is being wasted...
3 Comments
by steve, Lincoln
Sunday, August 01 2010, 9:53AM
“The longer the leak goes unrepaired, the more damage it also does to the road and pavement, undermining the ground beneath it - yet Anglian will only dig up the affected part to fix the pipe and not survey the remainder of the road, so in a few months cracks and potholes will appear that will be left to the council to fix and we all know what their success rate is in dealing with road surfaces.
The water company should be fined by the council for every day beyond a 'reasonable' period that faults go unrepaired.”
by stephen, lincoln
Friday, July 30 2010, 3:26PM
“Anglian Water don't rush to water leaks as they have hardly any operatives left to respond,they have gradually over the years since privatisation been made redundant.All you have left is a call centre full of mouse-movers plus the odd spin doctor who has been on a course in bovine excrement.The word service these days is an expletive.”
by adrian, lincoln
Friday, July 30 2010, 9:52AM
“if you have a leak tell the echo ANGLIAN WATER don.t care until the echo gets involved ANGLIAN WATER say if you see a leak report it and they won.t fix it till the echo gets to hear about it . thats why we waited 5 months for them to fix a leak only to be told its a trickle then they put our water bill up to cover the leak .we was paying 26 a month now were paying 37 a month for a leak they said they didn.t have then when someone came and saw it . it was poring out so everybody if you see a leak tell the echo don.t bother with anglian water the echo will get it done”