Thames Water announce hosepipe ban whilst multiple leaks remain unfixed in West Berkshire

Serious concerns are being raised with utility company Thames Water as streams of water flow through the streets of West Berkshire.

More than 30 individual leak reports have emerged in Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford, with some running for weeks.

This comes as the private utility company announces a blanket hosepipe ban for the entire of its service area.

Thames Water, which loses almost 24 per cent of the water it supplies, has come under fire for the level of leakages as temperatures soar across the country.

Substantial leaks have been reported at Gaywood Drive in Turnpike, Thornford Road in Crookham, the B4009 in Shaw and Friars Road in Newbury, where motorists have been seen driving through sheets of water.

Thatcham man Trevor Powell said that water has been running down his road for more than two weeks.

The 66-year-old Bowling Green Road resident said the “big leak” was reported on July 29 by a neighbour.

Mr Powell said his wife called the utility company on Monday to be told that the pipe could not be repaired just yet due to its close proximity to a BT electricity pole.

Mr Powell told Newbury Today: “It is a big leak and it’s running down the side of the road.”

“Why can’t the two companies get their act together and fix it?”

He continued: “This is already clean water. It should be going into people’s taps.

“This is purified water.”

Around nine reports of leaks have been flagged up on Thames Water's online leak map with around three around Thronford Road and five around Bowling Green Lane.

Mr Powell has lived on Bowling Green Lane for 35 years, through the 2007 Thatcham floods.

He also lived through the 1976 drought and commented on the “frustrating” levels of water being wasted today.

“It is somewhat annoying for me because I lived through that [drought] and I know what it is like,” he said.

Mr Powell said he understands why Thames Water would want to introduce a hosepipe ban but said it “gets people's backs up” when there are “so many leaks and nothing done about it”.

He added: “[Thames Water] are just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s.

“What happens if this electricity pole falls over? Then we won’t have any electricity either.

“That is a possibility.”

Mr Powell questioned the priorities and ownership of Thames Water, which is owned by Kemble Water Holdings Ltd.

“To a degree I blame the Government for letting them buy the utility companies," he said.

“You lose control of things.”

Thames Water measures its leakages in 'megalitres', or millions of litres, per day (Ml/d).

One 'megalitre' is equal to around 12,500 baths or 40 per cent of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Thames Water’s average monthly leakage, recorded in March 2022, stood at 589Ml/d – which is equal to around 236 Olympic-size swimming pools full of water.

Newport Road in Newbury is currently closed as Thames Water carries out sewer repairs.

The road, which has been closed from its junctions with A4 London Road and Pike Street, will be opened on August 19.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We know it’s not acceptable to be losing so much precious water but we’re doing something about it and our shareholders have recently approved an additional £2 billion into the business so we can improve outcomes for customers, leakage and river health.

"It’s not going to be quick, but we’re making progress and we’ve met our target to reduce leakage for the last three years, reducing the amount of water lost by 10 per cent since 2019/20.

"Our aim is to reduce our leakage by 20 per cent between 2020 and 2025 and in 2021/22 we fixed over 60,000 leaks, that’s almost 1,200 on average every week.”