Thames
Water have said that compensation payments will be made automatically
and will be writing to you if you’re one of the households who were
affected by recent water supply problems.
Residents can still make a claim online
(choose 'Water supply not duly restored after interruption’). If you
think you should receive compensation but haven’t heard from Thames
Water, you can make a claim but need to do this within three months of
the incident. Be aware that compensation may not be paid if the supply
failure to your property does not meet specific criteria of water
pressure and the timings of outages.
If you have not received a response from a claim you may wish to make a formal complaint. Details are here, including phone, mailing address and email contact details.
14 January 2022 Can we have a normal, regular water supply?
As
residents will be all too aware, during the weekend before Christmas
there was no water or low pressure to large parts of Loughton for three
days. This is down to chronic underinvestment for decades - most of
Loughton's pipes are Victorian and of iron.
Our
understanding is that water supplied into Loughton is normally from
four trunk mains. One of those at Valley Hill/Oakwood Hill was out of
action from an earlier incident (see below). Then
in the early morning of December 17th, another main alongside the High
Road leading from Buckhurst Hill burst, leaving the town dependent on
the two trunk mains that come into town along Earls Path. That is why
the water pressure was low or non-existent for many residents. It was
discovered that there were exposed cables near the burst pipe which
required assistance from UK Power Networks on site, thus delaying the
pipe repair. Thames Water cannot just double the pressure in the
remaining mains, because they would then be in danger of bursting.
There
have also been repeated leaks at various locations on other occasions,
such as the top of Alderton Hill and outside Loughton Police Station
(High Road/Forest Road).
The
LRA-led Town Council has recently had two sessions with Thames Water
about the poor service Loughton has been receiving. As a result, Thames
Water has promised a better service – see their letter. The
Town Council will be monitoring their performance, but in the end,
Thames are a private utility answerable to no public authority.
The inconsistent and incomplete messages during these incidents from Thames Water were unhelpful, to say the least. Thames
Water have said that compensation payments will be made automatically
and will be writing to you if you’re one of the households who've
been affected. More. However we know some residents are
sceptical about the process of getting automatic compensation from
Thames Water so you can make a claim online (choose 'Water supply not duly restored after interruption’).
LRA
has reported this, and other incidents on many other occasions. We too
are completely fed up with the situation. The problem is that Thames
Water are a foreign-owned private company, unresponsive in general, and
sitting on an infrastructure which is decayed and no longer robust,
failing on almost a daily basis.
Valley Hill/Oakwood Hill Burst Water Main
As
a result of the burst water main on December 2nd Valley Hill remains
closed, pending the repair of the pipe by Thames Water. This has
caused significant problems to residents, with traffic diversions
causing speeding or congested traffic on back roads and no 167 bus
service as that is now diverted away from the area.
The
burst pipe is complicated to repair. Loughton Brook runs in a concrete
channel culvert under Valley Hill, and the pipe to be repaired is under
that. The culvert needs to be carefully protected during the work to
stop it collapsing. Thames Water have promised various dates for
completion of the work (for example see here); the latest is that it will be complete by January 23rd.
The
LRA-led Town Council continues to highlight the problems for residents
to both Thames Water and Essex Highways and is urging them to get the
work done without further delay, and that they should communicate
better with residents and Cllrs about what is going on.
Water Supply Problems - What To Do
Thames Water do provide website and Twitter updates, although the latter isn't always up to date.
Please continue to report any issues Thames Water online or call 0800 316 9800. If the situation becomes urgent, do tell them and request bottled water. They are under an obligation (page 3) to do so if supply is not back to normal within 12 hours and should arrange for an alternative supply.
If
you are out walking, keep an eye out for any new mains water leaks and
report them too, as the leak may be the start of yet another
problem.
If you, or someone you
know, needs a little extra support perhaps because of their health,
disability, age, or if they’re going through a difficult time in their
life, Thames Water has a free priority services register. This provides
additional support when the water is off and leaving the house is not
possible, including bottled water deliveries where possible,
prioritising those who are dependent on water for medical needs. More
Please let us know the locations of any other repeated problems (contact@LoughtonResidents.co.uk) and we’ll pass them on to the Town Council.