Portsmouth residents issue a plea for help as burst water pipe has been leaking out on to road for 16 days

Neighbours of number 140 Medina Road, in Wymering, first reported a burst water pipe in the front garden of the property on January 29, a day after it appeared.

The damaged pipe meant water was flowing out across the home’s driveway, across the pavement and into the road – and now through the front garden wall of number 142.

Although Portsmouth Water came to the address to fix the issue they were unable to do anything as no one was home and so the pipe has been leaking consistently for 16 days.

It is thought the owner of the home lives in London and rents the property out to students, but no one has been able to contact her and no one is answering the door.

Debbie Parsons, whose semi-detached home shares a wall with 140, said she ‘doesn’t know what to do’.

The 62-year-old told The News: ‘There is a lot of water coming out of the ground. It is also coming through our wall out onto the pavement. It’s like a river running down out to the drain in the road.

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‘There is no answer at the front door even though there is someone in as the lights are on.

‘‘There should be something the water company can do in a case like this. Thousands and thousands of litres of water is being wasted.

‘There is nothing we can do, we even phoned the council but they can’t anything.

‘I’m worried about the risk to people. If we had a big freeze it would be dangerous to walk along the pavement.

‘We just don’t know what to do.’

James Rider, the chief operating officer for Portsmouth Water, said: ‘We would like to reassure the residents living near this property that we are aware of the issue and are taking steps to resolve it. The leak is coming from the customer’s private water supply pipe and whilst it is the responsibility of the customer to repair leaks on privately-owned property, Portsmouth Water will carry out repairs such as these free of charge if eligibility criteria are met and we have permission to access the property.

‘We have made multiple attempts to contact the customer and request this permission, including letters and home visits. Our team will be visiting the property again today in an attempt to make contact with the occupier.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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