A leak wasting ‘thousands of gallons of water’ in Wokingham town centre has been left for more than a month, according to a resident.
The man from Wokingham complained that the leak, near the Plaza on Denmark Street, has ‘no sign of anybody doing anything about it’.
The 71-year-old, who didn’t want to be named, said: “This leak has been active for a month now.
“It’s been reported to Southeast Water by a number of people using a number of different methods.
“From a service level point of view, it’s completely unacceptable.”
The resident, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said that ‘thousands of gallons of clean water’ had gone to waste.
Wokingham Today understands at least one Wokingham borough councillor had also reported the leak.
Southeast Water said they were made aware of the issue on July 13 and are looking to fix it on August 8.
Head of leakage operations at Southeast Water, Phil Jones, said: “We are prioritising fixing these leaks as quickly as we can, and have brought in additional repair teams to assist.”
He added that a ‘range of factors’ are at play when planning a repair, which can impact how long a leak takes to be fixed.
These include the location of the leak, the traffic management required, environmental considerations, other nearby utilities and the risk of customers going without water supply.
Emergency leaks or bursts affecting drinking water supplies are prioritised, he added.
Southeast Water spends around £40 million a year on fixing leaks, and say they are ‘committed to investing further’ to half the amount of water lost to leaks by 2050.
