Water pipe near a Harborough village still leak despite five '˜repairs'

Water still flows across this Harborough village road - despite at least five repair visits from Severn Trent Water this year.
Kibworth resident Dr Kevin Feltham with the repaired leak on Carlton Road in Kibworth Harcourt. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER NNL-180310-081119005Kibworth resident Dr Kevin Feltham with the repaired leak on Carlton Road in Kibworth Harcourt. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER NNL-180310-081119005
Kibworth resident Dr Kevin Feltham with the repaired leak on Carlton Road in Kibworth Harcourt. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER NNL-180310-081119005

One local man says millions of gallons of water have been lost here – and a local councillor says the constant leaks have damaged the road.

It’s Carlton Road in Kibworth, and both villagers and commuters along the road – who face regular temporary traffic lights – are fed up with the problem.

One retired man who lives on the road, who asked not to be named, said: “They must have lost millions of gallons of water from that pipe.

“I’ve looked in the hole when Severn Trent are digging there, and there are two new-ish plastic pipes and one old cast pipe from, I’d guess, the 1940s.

“It’s the old one that keeps bursting. I’ve no idea why they don’t just replace it, rather than all these visits.”

The pipe takes water from an underground reservoir at the edge of the village into Kibworth, the Mail understands.

So far this year Severn Trent have tried to patch up the pipe at least five times - without long-term success.

County councillor Dr Kevin Feltham, who also lives close to the flooded road, said: Water is still flowing constantly across the road.

“It’s not as bad as it has been – it was a major gush – but it is still flowing, and it’s washing away the road and causing potholes, filled with water of course.

Severn Trent were on site as recently as last week, but seem unable to solve the problem.

Cllr Feltham said: “They’ve been here at least five times this year, and still the water’s dribbling out.

“You’d have thought one big major repair would have been better than all these “patching-up” visits.”

It’s still not known whether this old, unreliable water pipe is a contributing factor to variable water pressures that have been reported across Kibworth.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent told the Mail: “Firstly we’d like to say sorry to anyone who has had problems with their water supply in Kibworth.

“We are looking at the condition of the pipe in Carlton Road now and we’re putting it forward for evaluation as a replacement project.

“In the meantime we’re also looking at the pumps that supply water to the area, to see if there is any effect from them, and if there is we’ll look at changing the way that they work.”