Thames Water sees a quarter of its total supplies wasted through leaks and
burst pipes, despite hitting its Ofwat target to reduce leaks last year.
Thames Water has also been criticised for the amount of time it takes to
repair leaks.
Figures obtained show that of 441 recent leaks in its area, just 210 were
repaired within the five days promised by Thames Water, while 48 had still
not been repaired after 20 days.
In one case Jeremy Gompertz QC reported a leak from a mains pipe into the
basement of his flat in Highbury, north London, on nine separate occasions
between December last year and February.
“It’s outrageous that when we’re threatened with water restrictions because of
drought they can’t be bothered to come and remedy a leak which has been
running for two months,” said Mr Gompertz, 41.
Elsewhere John Tamplin, a financial adviser from Henley-on-Thames, had to wait
two days before Thames Water dispatched engineers to repair a burst pipe
sending water gushing up through the paved drive of his home. The incident
came just days after Oxfordshire was declared to be in a state of drought.
Mr Tamplin, 55, said: “I was just amazed that Thames Water could be so
wasteful with the water when they are telling us to economise and look after
this valuable resource.”
Thames Water has now apologised for the amount of time it takes to visit and
repair leaks. A spokesman said: “We fix leaks in order of priority to
prevent as much water as possible from being wasted.
However, we recognise
that in some cases the speed we fix leaks isn’t good enough. We are
continually working to improve that.”
The firm, which last year made an operating profit of £600 million, pointed
out it had cut leakage from its pipes by a third since its peak in 2004 and
has invested millions of pounds in repairing leaks in recent years.
Source The Telegraph
Showing posts with label burst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label burst. Show all posts
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Monday, 28 July 2008
Splashing Out
The Guardian reports that the three executive directors at Thames Water shared almost £1M in bonuses last year.
David Owens, the chief executive, received a bonus of almost £662K taking his overall remuneration package to almost £823K.
Stephen Shine, chief operating officer, and Mark Braithwaite, chief financial officer, received bonuses of £192,600 and £130,700 respectively.
No doubt the owners of 15,000 properties in Merton that were without water yesterday for seven hours, because of a major burst on Merton High Street, will be pleased to hear this.
David Owens, the chief executive, received a bonus of almost £662K taking his overall remuneration package to almost £823K.
Stephen Shine, chief operating officer, and Mark Braithwaite, chief financial officer, received bonuses of £192,600 and £130,700 respectively.
No doubt the owners of 15,000 properties in Merton that were without water yesterday for seven hours, because of a major burst on Merton High Street, will be pleased to hear this.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
More Bursts
Cherry Orchard Road and part of Lower Addiscombe Road is closed for emergency works after a water main burst flooding the basements of two homes.
Thames Water got permission from Croydon Council to start emergency works on the site about 2pm today.
They have been replacing the Victorian water mains along Cherry Orchard Road for the past few weeks.
Ali Badel. 51, the owner of Euro Dry Cleaners on Cherry Orchard Road says his business is being affected by the road works and that neither he nor any of the other businesses along the road were informed about the works.
"Nobody can come into the shop because the road is closed and they cannot drive their cars down here.
"We were not given any information about this; if we had been then at least we could be prepared. It is fairly amazing. This is the second time my business has been disrupted by Thames Water works."
Councillor Andrew Price said:
"Given that these works to Victorian mains are over 100 years overdue, the patience of the people of Addiscombe is being severely stretched by this further disruption".
Thames Water apologised to customers and road users for the disruption.
A spokesman said:
"We are working through until the road works have been completed, we are working as quickly as we can and hopefully they will be completed as soon as possible. This is an emergency repair and we had to get on the site as soon as possible."
Source The Croydon Guardian
Thames Water got permission from Croydon Council to start emergency works on the site about 2pm today.
They have been replacing the Victorian water mains along Cherry Orchard Road for the past few weeks.
Ali Badel. 51, the owner of Euro Dry Cleaners on Cherry Orchard Road says his business is being affected by the road works and that neither he nor any of the other businesses along the road were informed about the works.
"Nobody can come into the shop because the road is closed and they cannot drive their cars down here.
"We were not given any information about this; if we had been then at least we could be prepared. It is fairly amazing. This is the second time my business has been disrupted by Thames Water works."
Councillor Andrew Price said:
"Given that these works to Victorian mains are over 100 years overdue, the patience of the people of Addiscombe is being severely stretched by this further disruption".
Thames Water apologised to customers and road users for the disruption.
A spokesman said:
"We are working through until the road works have been completed, we are working as quickly as we can and hopefully they will be completed as soon as possible. This is an emergency repair and we had to get on the site as soon as possible."
Source The Croydon Guardian
Friday, 20 July 2007
The View From The Thames Water Bunker
Here is what Thames Water sent to Andrew Pelling MP, re my water supply problems.
"..many thanks for your patience in waiting for a response. As you may be aware with the replacement of the mains there is a period of time when every property will have its water shut off while the pipe connecting the property to the water main is switched from the old pipe to the new.
When this happens every resident is told when the supply is going off and warned of the maximum amount of time that the water would be off. Our contractor has admitted that in *** Road some of these notifications were late being sent out and have given an assurance that this will now be tightened up.
With regard to Mr Frost we have had three contacts from him - 3 July - report of no water, technician attended his property and problem traced to a burst 'old'. The repair continued into the 4 July and a 'rider ' was set up to give Mr Frost a supply.
16/7 - report of no water from Mr Frost with a report of no water in his neighbour's properties. No work or shuts undertaken by the Victorian Mains Replacement Team therefore network investigation took place. Technician visited Mr Frost 17/7 and found only Mr Frost was affected and he had made an assumption neighbours affected.
Checked of internal plumbing resulted in finding of grit, most probably from the mains work, causing problem. Rectified 17/7.
Two other contacts in *** Road while work has been carried out one involving a delay while contractors was waiting for a valve delivery and the other where the supply pipe to a block of flats had been incorrectly recorded.
In the latter case bottled water was dispatched immediately to residents while supply was restored. Other contacts have been around when working in road, how long, parking- all quickly answered.
On Mr Frosts claims on Thames Water bonuses no bonus has been paid to any director or manager under the new owners. There were some one off payments made to directors of RWE Thames Water who are not part of the new Thames Water Management team associated solely around the sale process.These were made by RWE.
I must add that at no time has Mr Frost made known either to us directly or through the contractor his dis satisfaction."
The latter sentence has caused me a degree of "disbelief", I have via email and numerous phone calls made my "dis satisfaction" (sic) very clear to them.
Do they not keep records?
"..many thanks for your patience in waiting for a response. As you may be aware with the replacement of the mains there is a period of time when every property will have its water shut off while the pipe connecting the property to the water main is switched from the old pipe to the new.
When this happens every resident is told when the supply is going off and warned of the maximum amount of time that the water would be off. Our contractor has admitted that in *** Road some of these notifications were late being sent out and have given an assurance that this will now be tightened up.
With regard to Mr Frost we have had three contacts from him - 3 July - report of no water, technician attended his property and problem traced to a burst 'old'. The repair continued into the 4 July and a 'rider ' was set up to give Mr Frost a supply.
16/7 - report of no water from Mr Frost with a report of no water in his neighbour's properties. No work or shuts undertaken by the Victorian Mains Replacement Team therefore network investigation took place. Technician visited Mr Frost 17/7 and found only Mr Frost was affected and he had made an assumption neighbours affected.
Checked of internal plumbing resulted in finding of grit, most probably from the mains work, causing problem. Rectified 17/7.
Two other contacts in *** Road while work has been carried out one involving a delay while contractors was waiting for a valve delivery and the other where the supply pipe to a block of flats had been incorrectly recorded.
In the latter case bottled water was dispatched immediately to residents while supply was restored. Other contacts have been around when working in road, how long, parking- all quickly answered.
On Mr Frosts claims on Thames Water bonuses no bonus has been paid to any director or manager under the new owners. There were some one off payments made to directors of RWE Thames Water who are not part of the new Thames Water Management team associated solely around the sale process.These were made by RWE.
I must add that at no time has Mr Frost made known either to us directly or through the contractor his dis satisfaction."
The latter sentence has caused me a degree of "disbelief", I have via email and numerous phone calls made my "dis satisfaction" (sic) very clear to them.
Do they not keep records?
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
The Farce Continues
The farce over our water supply continues. Having enjoyed at least 3 hours of water today, supplied at the correct pressure...for once; guess what happened next?
Yes, that's right!
At 14:45 this afternoon our water was cut off again!
Thames Water tell me that a water main somewhere in Croydon had burst.
One hour later our supply has resumed...for the moment.
Stay tuned for the living soap that is Thames Water.
Yes, that's right!
At 14:45 this afternoon our water was cut off again!
Thames Water tell me that a water main somewhere in Croydon had burst.
One hour later our supply has resumed...for the moment.
Stay tuned for the living soap that is Thames Water.
Monday, 16 July 2007
Customer Care
Received from Thames Water, some 13 days after I wrote to them about their "service".
"Dear Mr Frost
Thank you for your e-mail of 3 July 2007.
I am very sorry to hear about the interruption to your supply, and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this must have caused you Leaks occur for a verity of reasons and as you are aware we intended to interrupt the supply on 2 July 2007 to carry out the necessary repair.
However, we were aware that it would take some time to complete this work and arranged for an alternative supply which ran above the ground to keep disruption to a minimum. Unfortunately, this alternative supply burst on 3 July 2007.
We could not foresee this but carried out the repair as quickly as possible. Compensation for loss of water supply is considered under the strict terms of our Customer Guarantee Scheme.
Under the terms of the scheme we will make a payment to you of £20.00 if we fail to restore your supply within 12 hours of being told about the problem.
As the water supply was restored within this time frame you are not entitled to a payment on this occasion.
I hope this information is helpful."
My response:
"Thank you for your response which took 13 days to write.
At the time, 3rd July, I spoke to one of your engineers who was unable to explain what the problem was.
Today, the water has again been shut off again without any warning.
This time, so I am told, it is due to a valve being replaced.
Truly pathetic!
Thames Water will be featured in my websites this week, and the details passed to my good contacts in the media.
Regards
Ken Frost"
"Dear Mr Frost
Thank you for your e-mail of 3 July 2007.
I am very sorry to hear about the interruption to your supply, and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this must have caused you Leaks occur for a verity of reasons and as you are aware we intended to interrupt the supply on 2 July 2007 to carry out the necessary repair.
However, we were aware that it would take some time to complete this work and arranged for an alternative supply which ran above the ground to keep disruption to a minimum. Unfortunately, this alternative supply burst on 3 July 2007.
We could not foresee this but carried out the repair as quickly as possible. Compensation for loss of water supply is considered under the strict terms of our Customer Guarantee Scheme.
Under the terms of the scheme we will make a payment to you of £20.00 if we fail to restore your supply within 12 hours of being told about the problem.
As the water supply was restored within this time frame you are not entitled to a payment on this occasion.
I hope this information is helpful."
My response:
"Thank you for your response which took 13 days to write.
At the time, 3rd July, I spoke to one of your engineers who was unable to explain what the problem was.
Today, the water has again been shut off again without any warning.
This time, so I am told, it is due to a valve being replaced.
Truly pathetic!
Thames Water will be featured in my websites this week, and the details passed to my good contacts in the media.
Regards
Ken Frost"
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