Water Palaver!

A tale of our times...

(Image: mine)

The place where I work is just behind the main water reservoir for the town.  The concrete 'mushroom' water tower is visible for miles around, and marks the town on the horizon like a nail sticking up from a plank of wood.

At the beginning of August, on my way to work, I noticed a large water leak in the road gutter exactly opposite the reservoir - about 25 yards from it, in fact.  It was a fast, steady flow and was coming from a storm drain (see photo).  In spite of that, it looked to me like fresh water.

I'm vigilant with water leaks.  I report them whenever I see them.  So as soon as I got home, I did an online report to South East Water.  I received no response, so a few days later I rang South East Water.  They said to me that as the water was flowing from a storm drain, it must be waste water and would need to be reported to Southern Water instead, as they are the authority that deals with waste water.

So I rang Southern Water and they agreed to get an engineer out immediately.  The engineer rang me a couple of hours later to say that the water was very definitely fresh water (it had chlorine in it), so he was going to contact South East Water to let them know.  He also said that it might help if I rang them, too.  I did so, and they then agreed to visit the site.  A couple of days later, I saw South East Water vans parked at the site and guessed that the matter was being dealt with at last.

But another week passed, and still the water was flowing out of the drain and running down the hill.  So I did another online report to South East Water, emphasising the urgency of the matter as the flow rate was so fast that the wastage must be enormous by this time.  A few hours later, I received a text message from them:

Thank you for your leak report.  Southern Water are correct when saying that this is fresh water.  However, as it is coming from a storm drain, we can say with great confidence that this is not South East Water's responsibility.  To get the issue resolved you would have to report this to the local council, who will then repair this through the Highways Authority.  There must have been some confusion on our side about whether this is waste water or a blocked drain, but your recent photo has helped us confirm that this is indeed Highway's responsibility.

I rang South East Water immediately and remonstrated that it should not be my responsibility to do this, and that they should make the call instead.  

They agreed to do so.

After another week, still with nothing done, I finally decided to contact Kent County Council Highways Department myself and find out what was going on.  This was at the beginning of last week.  I was told that an engineer would be visiting the site, and that they did have an active notification of a problem in the area.

A few more days passed - and again, nothing seemed to be happening.  By last Saturday, 31st August, I decided to check the flow rate of the water because it was such a large leak and had been going on for so long.  I used a 1-gallon container, which was filled in 10 seconds.  That equates to 360 gallons per hour, over 8,600 gallons per day - and, given that this has now been going on for over a month, approximately 260,000 gallons of fresh water wasted.  It is flowing freely out of the storm drain, running down the hill (including across a road junction) for approximately 250 yards before flowing into another storm drain halfway down the hill.  It is also out-flowing by over a foot into the road from the gutter, and the road surface beneath it has become green and slimy as a result of the length of time.

Yesterday, I sent a further report online to South East Water demanding an immediate investigation and action.  I also told them that I would be approaching both my local MP and the local TV news network in regard to the matter.

Yesterday, too, I had an email from a Senior Drainage Maintenance Technician at Kent County Council Highways Department:

Re: ****** - Water leak opposite No. 63 M********** H***, H**** B**
 Thank you for your enquiry on the 30th August 2024. By means of an update, we have again spoken to South East Water concerning this ongoing problem. They have confirmed that there was chlorine found in the water from their testing on 6th August 2024, but have yet to locate the source or identify a remedy (my emphasis).  A Highway Steward inspected the site on the 30th August 2024 and although the water is clearly still flowing, there is no immediate risk from potholes or loose stones.  This will of course continue to be monitored whilst South East Water continue their investigations. 

So... we have South East Water claiming it's the Highways Authority's responsibility, Highways claiming it's South East Water's responsibility... and no one seems to know where the water is coming from (you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes or a civil engineer to figure that one out, surely?), or how to deal with the problem.

And still, today, the water continues to flow....