As some Bishop’s Stortford residents entered their NINTH day of water woes, Affinity Water said on Tuesday that it would continue to monitor the situation but indicated that it would be issuing no further updates.
In its latest statement on the issue – which has seen at least 6,000 properties affected, forced the closure last week of eight schools and disrupted businesses – the supplier said at 10am: “All customers should have a water supply, although some may experience low pressure at times.”
But residents of Dane O’Coys Road, East Road and Riverside Wharf said on the Indie’s Facebook page that they were still without water after a week.
Affinity said: “We’ll be working throughout this week to monitor the network closely and ensure the measures we have put in place continue to maintain the reservoir and keep everyone in supply.”
This echoed the line it issued on Christmas Day and Boxing Day – but in a departure from its previous daily updates, it did not give a date or time for its next update.
It again appealed to customers to avoid using washing machines, dishwashers and other electrical appliances that use water.
“If you do have water, we really need your help to only use water for essential use (drinking, cooking, cleaning) and avoid using anything that uses a lot of water, as this will help bring up the levels quicker and those in your community without will get a supply back sooner.”
As a precaution, bottled water is still available for collection by customers without a mains supply from Thorley Community Centre, next to the Harvest Moon pub, in Friedberg Avenue, Thorley Park. Birchwood High School, Tesco at Bishop’s Park and the Birchanger Green M11 services have also been used as collection points.
It concluded: “We’re very sorry for the disruption, especially this time of year.”
Claire Browne, of Dane O’Coys Road, finally got her supply back on Boxing Day night, but said on Tuesday morning: “The pressure is dropping. One of my neighbours still has nothing – it’s been off for a week.”
Amy Rice said: “Still no water in Riverside Wharf – it’s absolutely disgusting that this still isn’t resolved.” And TJ Gibbs, who lives off Dunmow Road, said on Tuesday: “No water in East Road for nine days. Got cold water back yesterday but with very low pressure.”
On Boxing Day, Nicola Jaggers said: “No water at all Hadham Road. Nearly a week. No updates today, which to be honest haven’t been accurate anyway!”
Sharron Range in Willow Close, off Cricketfield Lane, reported: “Still very low pressure in our property and haven’t been able to use dishwasher, washing machine or showers for over a week now and no proper update [from] Affinity Water – just keeps repeating things like we should all have water but low pressure and to use water only for necessities.”
For some households, the lack of water has meant incurring unforeseen expenses.
Christine Hurst-Haynes had her supply fully restored on Christmas Day but said: “We complied as far as possible with the request from Affinity not to use excessive amounts of water by running the dishwasher or washing machine. Despite this, we had to call a plumber to resolve an air block that prevented water flow from any hot taps. We now have a bill that we wouldn’t otherwise have incurred.”
Angela Lattimore, of Newtown Road, was without hot water on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. “The water pressure rising and dropping over the last week has played havoc with our temperamental boiler. There’s no pressure for us now to top up,” she said.
“We actually called Affinity out [last] Monday night to an absolute emergency – flooding that we eventually got the fire brigade to attend to – but we’re still waiting for a call back on that.”
Julie Dodd, who lives on the Bishop’s Gate estate, said: “We’ve been okay since Christmas morning. Lost a few hours in the lead-up to Christmas, showering at relatives and sourcing bottled water, but I’m more concerned about the two days of boiling bottled water to wash and clean, and its impact on my already horrendous energy bill.”
Rachel Biggs, in Stortford Hall Park, quipped: “Our water and the water pressure [have] been on and off like a stripper’s knickers!”
Affinity announced last Thursday morning that it had restored water to all 6,000-plus properties in Bishop’s Stortford that did not have it on Tuesday, but it emerged that more than 50 properties were without water.
The supplier said that the local storage reservoir for the town – the location of which it does not disclose for security reasons – was “not recovering as expected” and it planned to bring in water from other areas.
Then on Friday it revealed that an airlock in its network was causing widespread problems. In a reflection of the disjointed communications from the company throughout this week, some residents without water said that they were not among more than 300 affected Stortford streets listed by Affinity while others who were on the water-less list said that they had mains water!
At 9pm on Friday Affinity said that it had found and released the airlock and started to build up water levels in the reservoir. “Some customers may still have low pressure tonight but this means that more customers should see an improvement in their water supply tomorrow and, all being well, you’ll have a normal supply before Christmas Day.”
Stortford MP Julie Marson said on her Facebook page on Friday: “I continue to be extremely concerned regarding the water supply in Bishop’s Stortford and want to assure you I have raised with Affinity Water the frustrations and inconvenience my constituents are facing.
“I will be following up on the issues that have been raised by this prolonged disruption to this essential service, both operational and in communications, and compensation due to affected residents.”
Water started to run low late on Monday morning (Dec 19). The worst affected areas were Stortford Fields, Thorley Park, Bishop’s Park, Bishop’s Gate, St Michael’s Mead, Havers, Maze Green Road/Dane Park, Parsonage, Beldams Lane/Dimsdale Crescent and roads near Herts and Essex Hospital.
By Wednesday morning, some of these areas had had supply restored while previously unaffected areas started to experience problems.
Eight schools were shut on Tuesday or Wednesday as a result of the water shortages: high schools Birchwood and Herts & Essex plus primaries All Saints, Hillmead, Manor Fields, Northgate, Windhill21 and Summercroft, which closed at 10am on Monday because of a burst pipe.
Affinity workers were also working to mend pipes and restore water supplies in Sawbridgeworth, High Wych, the Hadhams, Takeley, Hatfield Heath, Elsenham, Newport, Wenden’s Ambo, Thaxted and Tilty.
An Affinity Water spokesperson told the Indie last Wednesday morning: “Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict the effect of freeze / thaw events on specific parts of the water network. These events cause ground movement and make pipes expand and contract. This puts pipes under pressure, which leads to more bursts than usual.
“In fact, our teams of technicians are responding to 12 times more bursts than normal. We prepared ahead of the event by ensuring our storage reservoirs were at capacity, we put extra teams on standby and ensured we had fixtures and fittings in the local area to make repairs as quickly as possible.
“This issue is not unique to the area and water companies across the South East have experienced similar issues following the freeze / thaw weather event.”
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