4 April - A cork might be the answer - Click any image for photo gallery (2 images)
Tomorrow
a hosepipe ban will be introduced with threats of £1,000 fines. And what has wasting water got to do with
Bexley council you might ask. Not very much I would have thought but the Water Council doesn’t agree.
The pipe shown has been leaking since August 2010, maybe longer. That’s right, getting on for two years. It
was first reported to Thames Water in September 2010 and at approximately three month intervals since then. They
take copious notes but do nothing.
A couple of months ago the leak was reported to OFWAT who didn't want to know but the Water Council was a bit
more sympathetic; they said that they would speak to Thames Water but added the warning “You know what they
are like”. Sadly everyone does.
When they returned the call they said that all the leak reports were on record but Thames Water claimed to be
able to do nothing because the leak was on private property and couldn’t be seen from the road. Where do you
think I was standing when I took the photographs?
As you can see, the water has damaged the wall and maybe it has damaged the foundations too. On the plus side,
probably it is keeping neighbouring gardens nicely damp during the drought.
The only thing that can be done about this leak, according to the Water Council, is to report it to Bexley
council’s Environmental Health Department. I can imagine what they might say and in any case they are fully
occupied persecuting Mrs. Grootendorst.
My own solution would be a cork up the offending overflow pipe.
The occupiers of the house rent it and say there is nothing they can do about it. Ten minutes with a new washer is
all that is needed.
Update: The leak which has existed for 20 months was fixed on 13th April.
Coincidence? Who knows? But it is done and that is what matters.
This blog (written in notepad. Ugh!) due to a failed hard drive and with no access to source
material, use of a scanner etc., no significant new entries can appear before it is replaced.