PIPE DELAY LEFT US HIGH AND DRY (From Warrington Guardian)

PIPE DELAY LEFT US HIGH AND DRY

UNITED Utilities has been slammed after residents were left without water for more than seven hours because the firm failed to fix a burst pipe.

Dozens of residents on Nixon Drive are furious that they were given no warning that the water supply would be cut off despite the fact the leak that caused it occurred more than a week ago.

One of the residents affected was town and borough councillor Peter Gannon.

He said: "We were without water for seven-and-a-half hours without any warning and I think it is disgusting."

The lack of water on the Grange estate was due to a burst pipe on High Street and Clr Gannon believes the inconvenience could have been easily avoided.

He said: "Myself and Clr Des Worthington called United Utilities a number of times telling them about the leak.

"They came and did some work for a couple of days then they went away.

"Then they came back and did another couple of days work on it and I just don't think it is good enough."

Clr Gannon believes if United Utilities knew the water supply would be turned off they should have given residents warning.

He said: "I was told the problems on Saturday were to do with the leak we had already told them about, so there's no reason why they shouldn't have warned us about the possibility of the water supply being disrupted.

"It just seems that they take our money but don't want to give us the service.

"Everybody is accountable and water companies should be no different."

"We did have a leak reported to us on July 25.

"We have to prioritise leaks with other work and we had someone go out within two or three days.

"In this case it was very difficult to detect where the leak was and we had to go back with specialist equipment.

"This happened early on Saturday morning and the equipment showed it was quite a big leak and that is why the water went off without cards being put through people's doors beforehand.

"We apologise to people for the inconvenience, but it was an emergency."