Friday 12 August 2022 02:01 PM Frustrated Brits demand action as water firms to fix leaks during hosepipe ban ... trends now
Water companies imposing hosepipe bans have come under fire from angry customers for repeatedly failing to fix leaks.
Seven water firms across England and Wales have already declared a hosepipe ban or start dates for the restriction, which will affect more than 30 million people.
The bans are coming into force as an official drought has been declared in parts of the south, south west and central England and the east of the country.
People on social media, however, are becoming increasingly angry that while their own personal water usage is being capped, huge water leaks from pipes owned by the ban-imposing companies are taking weeks at times to fix the issue.
One man on Twitter posted photos of a large leak after a pipe burst at a time when there is 'lots of talk about saving water'. Thames Water will put 15 million people across the south east under a hosepipe ban within the coming weeks. It comes as an official drought was confirmed.
More than 15 million people across the Thames Valley region will be hit with the ban on using hosepipes and sprinklers in the coming weeks - the water company giant is yet to confirm an official start date.
Earlier this week Thames Water admitted that despite trying to be ‘efficient’ with water usage, like the Germans and the Danes, the company loses more than 635 million litres of water a day.
Londoner’s have slammed the water company for not fixing huge leaks.
One man filmed a leak on his road that had been ongoing for more than a week.
In the video he shows the water that had ran down the road from the source, where there were two weeks.
He said that Thames Water said they would come and fix the leak on August 8 - but four days later they still had not come.
He said: 'Even though they called for a hosepipe ban because of the water shortage and the continued heat wave, we still have this.'
Currently around two billion gallons of water are wasted across the UK each day - 20 per cent of the country’s entire water use.
There are fears that hosepipe bans could last until October as a result of ‘no meaningful rainfall’ being forecasted.
Temperatures over the weekend are expected to soar to over 36C, with many parts of England facing a ‘level three’ heat alert.
One leak in Hanwell has claimed to have gone on for at least six months, creating calls for Thames Water to investigate the problem.
Yorkshire Water, which supplies five million, became the latest company to announce its first hosepipe ban in 27 years.
The temporary ban will begin on August 26 and anyone caught breaking the ban could be fined up to £1,000.
But people from Yorkshire have taken to Twitter to call on the company to fix the leaks leading water to run onto their roads before stopping residents using their hosepipes.
Another woman added that it was 'disgraceful' that Yorkshire Water had decided to impose a hosepipe ban when a leak near her home had not been fixed for more than three weeks.
The video shows part of a road cordoned off with yellow barriers, with a blue arrow painted on the ground pointing to where the leak is.
Although maintenance work looked like it had taken place, the water was still dripping onto the street.
In Kent and Sussex, 1.4 million are already under restrictions as a result of the South East Water ban that began today.
When a hosepipe ban is in place, people are not allowed to connect their hose to the mains water supply.
This means people will be banned from using a hosepipe to fill up paddling pools and swimming pools, cleaning the walls or windows of your home and washing cars.
One woman on Twitter said: 'Bit confused how you can let this leak continue from 1:30am this morning but still introduce a hosepipe ban from Friday.
'If there is such a shortage of water shouldn’t we be stopping all leaks asap.'
Her video shows water spilling out of a pipe onto the road and flooding a nearby pavement.
Another showed a leak on Sittingbourne High Street in Kent.
The woman who posted the video claimed that at least 40,000 litres had been lost since the leak began.
A week ago, people in South Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight as well as the Isle of Man had the ban imposed upon them under Southern Water's new restrictions - but leaks are still taking 'several weeks' to be fixed.
People in Pembrokeshire’s water use will be limited from August 19 Welsh Water announced.
One woman in Wales shared a video a drain over flooding and
