Water mess!
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
13/01/2009
The big freeze closed a primary school today after a water main burst, cutting the supply.
New Kings Primary School, on New Kings Road in Fulham, is expected to reopen tomorrow (Wednesday January 14).
Burst water mains and gushing leaks have been causing chaos across the borough in the recent big freeze which has seen temperatures drop to -10°C in some parts of London.
Thames Water’s mains system was severely affected by the cold weather, causing more than 25 leaks across H&F in just one week. This led to road closures, including the A3220 West Cross Route in the north of the borough, which was closed in both directions as far as the Holland Park roundabout on the A40 from Friday January 9 afternoon until Saturday January 10 at 3pm.
Traffic was brought to a standstill in the rush hour as water from a burst main spilled onto the carriageway and fears it would freeze as the temperature plummeted led to the carriageway being shut off for almost 24 hours. It caused tailbacks of up to six miles over the weekend as motorists struggled in the cold conditions.
Water supplies were temporarily cut on Glenthorne Road to allow work on a four inch burst pipe to be carried out yesterday and various flowing leaks were freezing, leaving many roads and pavements icy. However, while the Victorian pipes have been taking a battering, the council has been out and about checking that affected pathways have been gritted to keep residents safe and that Thames Water workers were repairing leaks as quickly as possible.
Thames Water was receiving 200 reports of leaks and burst pipes every day during the cold snap, but at the height of the bad weather, this rose to 1,200 a day.
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, deputy leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council and cabinet member for environment, said: “Thames Water justifies its yearly increases with tales about how they are using our money to improve their infrastructure. However, the chaos caused by burst pipes and water leaks across the borough shows no evidence that things are actually getting better.
“Although this has been a cold couple of weeks, there should be a better system to deal with these conditions – these kinds of problems do not occur in countries where freezing temperatures are commonplace and they should not happen here either.”
A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: “The coldest winter in 12 years has led to a significant increase in bursts and leaks on our water mains. Our engineers are working around the clock to carry out emergency repairs as quickly as possible, and we have doubled the number of engineers dealing with bursts.
“It is essential that we prioritise repairs in order of severity to help prevent flooding to homes and businesses, and roads that could freeze over. Although we are extremely busy, it is still important that customers contact us to let us know about any bursts or leaks.”
