South West Water has been blasted by residents for not sorting out leaks in their roads while Cornwall is still in drought and under a hosepipe ban.
The utility company has been criticised for not repairing ongoing leaks in roads for weeks, months and even years despite asking residents to limit the number of showers they take and to restrict water usage for gardens and crops.
Neil Westlake, who lives in Marazion near Penzance, said that in the last month he has reported water leaking out of the ground on Shop Hill at least three times, adding neighbours have done the same.
"They came along and put a blue line on the kerbside where the leak is, said it's urgent and have not been back," Mr Westlake told us. "I emailed South West Water and reported the leak on their website.
They were looking at some valve at the bottom of the hill but nothing has happened for weeks. Other neighbours have also reported it but again nothing's happened. It's still running down the road.
"It's not coming from any of the properties. It's coming from underneath the road where there's a new patch of tarmac where they did some repairs at the beginning of the year."
According to its own figures, South West Water (SWW) detects and reports an average of 2,194 leaks per month across Devon and Cornwall. Past data from the company's interactive maps typically show around 50 active reported leaks specifically within Cornwall at any given time, broken across areas like West, Mid, and North Cornwall.
The water company said it fixes roughly 1,500 to 1,600 of these detected leaks each month, while others take longer due to complex access or repair requirements.
A resident near Carnon Downs claimed a pipe has been leaking in a byway between Valley Lane at Carnon Downs and Chyreen Lane at Quenchwell for years.
"There was a wet patch where the leak is back in 2014," she told CornwallLive. "I thought it was a spring. I use this byway regularly and there's been a leak there for years.
"It's fixed then it leaks from a different place."
The resident added: "Some months ago, I ran into a contractor for South West Water who was doing repairs. He said to me it'd leak as again as soon as it's fixed.
"It's the whole pipe that needs replacing but no-one is doing that."
She said the issue springs from who owns the stretch of pipe and who is responsible for fixing it - SWW or the three cottages along the stretch of road.
"What a waste of precious resources that we all pay a premium for," the resident added. "We're in drought and there's a hose pipe ban that'll probably be in place until Christmas. It's water that could be used elsewhere that's being totally wasted instead."
For Mr Westlake and the Carnon Downs resident and all the others who have reported leaks that go on unrepaired for months, that's simply not good enough.
Mr Westlake added: "It's disgusting. People are doing their bit. There's a hosepipe ban with limited water use. We're in a drought situation and they waste water. I think they're taking the p*ss."
What South West Water has to say
A spokesperson for South West Water said: "Regarding the Carnon Downs leak, we understand concerns about water loss. While this is a leak on a private supply pipe, we have issued the appropriate notice and are working with those responsible to ensure repairs are carried out as soon as possible."
The spokesperson added: "The Marazion leak was due to be repaired today (Friday September 4).
"In the last 12 months, we've repaired more than 26,700 leaks across our region, including over 21,000 leaks on our network and more than 5,500 on customer supply pipes. That's around 76 leaks repaired every day.
"We've also seen a 12.5 per cent increase in the number of leaks detected on our network in the last 12 months, driven by continued investment in leak detection technology and targeted campaigns to find and fix leaks as quickly as possible.
"As around 30 per cent of the leaks we identify are associated with customer-owned pipework, we're supporting customers through assisted repairs and campaigns such as Leaky Loos to help identify and fix hidden leaks and reduce water waste.
"Our leak detection teams have doubled since 2020, as part of our plan to halve leakage by 2050, and we continue to invest in highly sensitive detection equipment, alongside innovative techniques such as satellite imagery, drones and leak detection dogs to help locate leaks in harder-to-reach areas."
