Just another bit of damp for Cranleigh residents.
Burst water pipes are no stranger to the residents of Cranleigh, and particularly for those living along, and off, the Ewhurst Road. But a burst water main in Taylors Crescent had residents struggling to keep water from seeping into their homes yesterday.
Residents say they waited more than six hours for Thames Water to send engineers to deal with the situation, and even tried to find their own ways to stop the flooding.
Recently when MP Anne Milton hosted a flood forum in Cranleigh Village Hall a Thames Water spokesman attempted to quell residents’ fears, saying that Craneigh was not exceptional, and had no more burst water mains than other parts of the area!
This is what he said at the meeting:
You can read about it by clicking on the link below:
Thames Water should be find for its cubic metre water loss at the rate the consumers pay and the damage the leaks create that would help develop the business case.
We at the Waverley Web agree wholeheartedly.
Dear Waverley Web,
29.6% of Cranleigh’s drinking water supply pipes are old asbestos cement pipes (the average for SE England is 2%). Asbestos cement (AC) pipes have a design life of 50 to 70 years, and as the AC pipes in Cranleigh were installed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, this is the reason for the many bursts we are experiencing.
Thames Water have recently carried out tests on sections of pipes to confirm their belief that Cranleigh’s pipes are white asbestos, which although it is a banned substance, it is nevertheless less dangerous to being ingested in drinking water than blue asbestos. Unfortunately Thames Water’s tests found blue asbestos.
On advice from the Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), on the 29th January Cranleigh Civic Society issued a Risk Assessment to Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health Department pointing out the dangers to human health from ingesting blue asbestos fibres release into drinking water when old AC pipes burst. Finally, after much chasing, the Head of the Environmental Health Department wrote to Cranleigh Civic Society last week (8th September) concluding that HSE is actually responsible to enforce this, and that “Waverley does not therefore have an enforcement role in relation to Thames Water’s activities”.
Cranleigh Civic Society would like to point out that throughout this period, Thames Water have been very helpful and open, providing free testing and information whenever they were asked to.
Cranleigh Civic Society are worried that when all the new housing estates currently being built are connected to the existing old network, because under new Building Regulations new houses must be supplied with a minimum one bar pressure, it will put a huge strain on the old network and there will be a lot more bursts, releasing yet more blue asbestos fibres into Cranleigh’s drinking water supply.
At a recent Waverley Joint Planning Meeting, a Cranleigh Parish Councillor and a Borough Councillor both explained to the planning committee the dangers of free blue asbestos fibres in Cranleigh’s drinking water supply network, but after a brief “brush-off” comment by the Head of Planning along the lines that it isn’t Waverley’s problem to sort out, the Chairman moved the meeting on to other issues.
Some weeks ago, Cranleigh Civic Society met the Leader of Waverley Borough Council and carefully explained the blue asbestos problem in Cranleigh’s drinking water supply network, and got nowhere.
Cranleigh Civic Society’s position is simple and unequivocal, “Any new houses currently being built in Cranleigh must not be connected to Thames Water’s drinking supply network until all the old asbestos cement pipes have been replaced with contemporary plastic pipes”.
A question in response to Mr Clarke, you mention that Thames Water have helpfully carried out tests on the water supply. Did their tests find evidence of asbestos fibres in the water supply or was it confined to the pipes?
Good question! We await Mr Clarke’s comments and we will be posting his general comments shortly on the Waverley Web.
We also respectfully suggest that the next time the MP calls a flood forum – adequate notice is given to those affected by these pipes. We understand the residents of Alfold, Ewhurst, and other villages are also affected and their residents are very worried.