Residents in Cornish village blast eight-year water leak 'such a waste of water'

A community in Cornwall has branded a recurring leak in their village a "complete waste of water" as the region's reservoirs continue to suffer from low water levels.

According to residents in Cargreen, near Saltash, it has been an ongoing issue for several years.Resident Gary Cooper said the most recent leak started earlier this summer and despite reporting it to South West Water, it has still not been fixed.

"It's been an ongoing issue for around eight years and each time South West Water carry out a small repair, it doesn't seem to last and another leak appears," Gary said.

He added: "It's getting to a point where I just think the whole pipe network needs to be replaced.

"It's not bursting out of the ground, it's more of a dribble. But it runs down the road and the lane and nearby football pitch are becoming very saturated."

Gary says while the leak is not directly outside his house he feels "frustrated by the whole thing because South West Water has been taking responsibility to fix the leaks but then more appear".

He said: "I appreciate they've been doing so much to repair leaks but this just feels like a complete waste of water and something more needs to be done."

Another resident of the village Michele Treeby said: "I don't care whose fault it is but with the drought we're in at the moment, it needs to be fixed so that the water goes back into reservoirs.

"Why have a hosepipe ban in place when there's an ongoing leak?"

Cornwall's first hosepipe ban in more than two decades started on August 23 and still remains in place despite heavy rainfall in recent months.

South West Water announced the measure following a period of hot and dry weather.

The drought Cornwall has been experiencing left water levels in rivers and reservoirs below average.

The hot weather also caused rocketing demand for water, further depleting surface levels.

South West Water said it will be sending a team to Cargreen to carry out the necessary repairs.

The utilities company says it is working "at pace" to repair leaks across the region.

A spokesperson said: "We are aware of a small leak on a supply pipe in Cargreen and will be sending a team to the site to carry out a repair as soon as possible and we would like to thank customers for their patience."With the South West remaining in drought following one of the driest periods in over 130 years, we are working at pace to find and fix more leaks across the region, repairing up to 2,500 leaks per month.

"If customers do spot a leak we ask them to report it via our website or by calling us on our 24-hour leak helpline so we can investigate."