Does anyone else think the amount of burst water mains etc in the last six months is a bit odd?
I live near the entrance to the Horniman Gardens and in the last six months I have reported approximately 10 water leaks all quite substantial in that area! Also in Forest Hill, London Road and Honor Oak Park Road there have been two sink holes, a major cavern formed outside Sainsburys shutting the a205 for a time and more bust mains over the past 2 years.
The one today outside the entrance to the Horniman was only repaired 4 months ago.
Some of the water is said to come from natural springs. As tarmac covers large area and water table swells in autumn then the springs appear in unlikely places. Being naive and believing this is possible does not explain majority of water leaks. So the merry go round starts again.
Thank you. I never knew that. However I suppose Sydenham Wells which was once a place the Victorians used the water for health benefits is a stones throw. Interesting!
The more of the larger leaks that are fixed, puts pressure on the other failing areas. Pressure will always win, especially if there are weak links.
More to come for sure.
Yes understand that but it doesn’t excuse the historic lack of investment. The better question is why not a large scale replacement of the pipework rather than addressing it piecemeal? Bound to be cheaper overall, especially on Honor Oak Road which seems to be particularly bad for this.
Replacing that will put pressure elsewhere and round and round we go. If you want to stop the leaks ALL of the old infrastructure needs to be replaced, not just one little bit in FH.
Very strange, especially given that infrastructure companies do not work like that, thankfully. My point is that there are places where the pipes are exceedingly old and Thames Water know this. Rather than continually digging these up each time a new leak springs, then that particular area could have more piping replaced so as to save (?) the utility company money (this part is my question) and cause much less local disruption. They would probably need to amortise over 10 years or somesuch.
It is quite a leap, and a completely different proposition, to suggest replacing the entire capital’s water pipes just because one local road, or even a number of them, has old pipes. HS2 is a much better idea than that.
Brett, MOST of the water pipes in London are Victorian and prone to leaking, fix one bit and another leaks. This happens all over London. Replacing one bit wont help, it just leaks somewhere else.
I am talking about PRE-Victorian pipe work. Honor Oak Road has some and is particularly prone to continual dig and mend. Most of the other housing round here, hence the supply to them, is not that old as you say.
Thanks Brett, I am trying very hard but not getting through. Thanks for being condescending btw. Very nice of you. Maybe someone else can take over and try.
Five minute tea and biscuit break, all.