News: Southern Water - leak fixed

Southern Water have fixed the leak in Paddock Field, Chilbolton which had been reported six weeks earlier.

Residents’ hopes were raised when a Southern Water inspector visited the Village to determine how serious the leak was.

He explained that it would only be graded as “serious”, if there were two cubic metres or more emerging per hour. This would be at least four times more than was coming from the ground in Paddock Field.

He said that because it wasn’t serious, it would be a few weeks before it was repaired. However he held out the possibility that if a repair team became available unexpectedly that they could turn up earlier.

On Saturday, a two-man team did turn up, suitably equipped for their task.

It was hard work digging down to the source of the leak, and work that had to be done carefully to avoid other pipes and cables.

With the opportunity to do so, they also replaced two ageing water meter chambers with new ones.

When they had finished, they explained that the leak had originated in the communication pipe which leads to the meters. They replaced two elbow joints with a simpler fitting. All this was done with only a five-minute interruption in supply.

Given the number of leaks locally - with 47 reported around Andover in August alone - they explained that repair teams were working around the clock, with no limit to the amount of overtime on offer.