A VIDEO showing water running down a road near Arlington Water Treatment Works has prompted frustration from residents while a temporary hosepipe ban remains in place across the area.
The footage, sent to Eastbourne News by a reader, was recorded near the treatment works yesterday (Sunday) and has since attracted thousands of views online.
Residents questioned why such a large amount of water appeared to be escaping at a time when households are being asked to restrict their water use.
South East Water confirmed the incident was caused by a burst near its Arlington site, but insisted the water was not being wasted.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of a burst that has occurred near our Arlington Water Treatment Works in Sussex.
“This particular burst is only affecting our raw water, which is non-drinkable. The water that is flowing away from the burst will be returned to the reservoir, where it can later be treated and pumped out to our customers.”
The company said it understood why the sight had caused frustration, particularly while the temporary ban was in force.
It added that repair teams were prioritising incidents affecting customers’ supplies and that additional staff had been brought in to tackle leaks and bursts across the network.
According to South East Water, the typical time taken to complete a repair after it has been inspected has fallen from two weeks last year to one week.
The company said repair times could be affected by the location of a leak, traffic management requirements, environmental considerations, nearby utilities and the risk of interrupting supplies.
South East Water said it had found and repaired more than 21,000 leaks across its network during the past year, as well as a further 6,000 leaks on customers’ properties. It currently has 400 people working on reported leaks and another 116 technicians proactively searching for problems.
Leaks can be reported through South East Water’s AquAlerter service at southeastwater.co.uk.
