Leaking water inlet outside Felpham home ignored for ‘weeks’ according to resident.

A water inlet pipe outside a Felpham resident’s property has been leaking ‘24/7’ for weeks, but Portsmouth Water have taken no meaningful action.
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A Felpham resident who discovered a leaking inlet pipe to their water supply said they have been ignored by Portsmouth Water for nearly three weeks.

Mr Bob Budd, of Summerley Lane, said he first contacted Portsmouth Water about the faulty pipe on August 12 and was told the leakage department would be in touch.

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Having heard nothing by the following Monday (August 16), he called again and reported the leak.

Mr Budd said the water inlet is like this '24/7'Mr Budd said the water inlet is like this '24/7'
Mr Budd said the water inlet is like this '24/7'

Two weeks later Mr Budd said the pipe is still leaking, and has been doing so ‘24/7’ since he discovered it.

“They came out and put a bit of blue aerosol paint around it, but that’s as far as we’ve got. It’s terrible,” he said.

“It’s so frustrating. We all talk about climate change and the need to conserve water, but Portsmouth Water are allowing this to just run down the drain.”

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A spokesperson for Portsmouth Water said repairs for the burst pipe had actually been scheduled on two separate occasions, but both appointments had to be abandoned.

The first scheduled repair had to be aborted due to a burst water main pipe in another location, and the second due to traffic management concerns because of the leak’s proximity to a main pedestrian crossing point.

As a result, Portsmouth Water repair teams are due to resolve the issue tonight (September 3). Traffic management concerns, the spokesperson said, mean it will have to be dealt with outside of peak hours.

“Clearly, our main failing has been the poor communication with our customer who took the time to report the issue to use initially. A very basic on our part for which I am very sorry,” they said.

“We do treat leak repairs as a priority, our approach to leak detection and repair has resulted in Portsmouth Water exceeding our leakage target for 2019/20 by a considerable margin.”

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