CONCERNS have been raised by a county councillor who said that residents are "repeatedly" having to hear "horror stories" about water leaks in Basingstoke.

The news comes after the Gazette has been made aware of several water leaks across the borough over the past few weeks including The Street in Old Basing, and Penny's Hatch in Kingsclere where residents said the road was slimy with a stream of water.

In Dummer Down Lane gallons of water was reportedly pouring down the hill, which had been left for more than two weeks.

Meanwhile a leak in Oakridge Road sparked anger from the leader of the Basingstoke and Deane Independents group, Cllr Paul Harvey.

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Cllr Stephen Reid has since spoken out after a resident of Harris Hill, Hatch Warren complained of yet another leak in the area.

He said: "Ok, they’re [South East Warer] busy. OK, the dry weather causes earth movements and more leaks than normal. But the context is that we repeatedly hear national horror stories about how much water is lost through leakage and here’s an example, in the heart of our community. It raises the question: are they employing enough people to fix this problem and others like it?".

He said "thousands of families" have been trying to save water.

He added:"The person who contacted me is both worried and offended by the length of time it is taking to fix the problem. The water is bubbling up and out of a meter cover in the pavement. And it’s not a trickle – it’s a ‘water my garden’ flow. And it never stops: it’s leaking water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

"Like many families, we have been trying to conserve water during the hot spell. Our garden water butt was run down to empty and we have been collecting kitchen-sink water in a bowl for transferring to our watering cans, attempting to keep the garden alive.

"I have viewed the Harris Hill leak and been in contact with South East Water. Yes, it is logged. I’ve checked and it’s on their website. And they’ve been out. They’ve painted a blue cross on the pavement access cover. But still the water leaks and wastes."

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South East Water have since responded to concerns.

South East Water’s chief executive officer David Hinton said: “We have committed to reducing the amount of water lost to leaks on our network and in customers’ homes by 15 per cent between 2020 and 2025 (based on our annual performance).

“We have continued to reduce the amount of leaks on our network year on year and have beaten our leakage target, set by the regulator, for the last 13 years.

“During 2020/21 we exceeded our target and we are on course to meet the 15% reduction by 2025.  We have achieved this using a variety of methods including smart water logging, targeted mains replacement and the use of satellite leak detection imagery.

“To make sure we continue to beat and improve our leakage targets we'll be investing millions over the next two years and have ambitious plans to halve the amount of leakage by 2050 to 44 million litres a day. 

“This investment will go towards further innovative technology to help us identify even the smallest of leaks. We’ll also aim to minimise leaks on the customers’ side using smart meters and loggers."