Subject:
Emergency utility works on Wey Hill, Haslemere
Dear Councillor,
For your information can I advise you of emergency works
being carried out on Wey Hill, Haslemere (Outside Majestic Wine Warehouse).
Thames Water need to repair a valve in the carriageway. The
traffic management that is placed is Multi-Way Signals and the estimated end
date is the 08/07/2020.
We have requested manual control between 06:30-09:30 &
16:00-18:30 to minimise disruption as much as possible.
Thames Water had a live event yesterday evening. A number of residents experienced technical difficulties when trying to join the call.
Thames Water have uploaded a recording of the full session on their website: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/customer-updates. This discusses the causes of water shortages recently in Waverley and there is a Q&A at the end of the session. The sessions is approximately 75 minutes long.
As you are aware, many houses in Haslemere are without water or are experiencing low water pressure.
I discussed this in an interview on BBC Surrey:
Below is a councillor update from Thames Water’s Local Government Liaison :
Dear Councillors,
I am writing to update you on ongoing water supply issues to properties in and around the Haslemere area.
Since we updated you yesterday evening, our engineers have been working hard to keep supply disruption to a minimum through the use of tanker infusions, with only some pockets of residents seeing a complete loss of supply earlier this morning.
To give you some sense of the scale of this operation, yesterday we infused our network with 215,000 litres of water and, though I cannot yet confirm today’s figure, we have more than doubled our tankering presence in the area.
This work together with reducing demand means that only a very limited number of residents are likely to be noticing any problems with their supply at this stage, though this is subject to some degree of caution as demand increases into this evening.
To offer an indication of those residents most likely to be affected, I have attached here a map of the impacted area which visualises each property we supply with a dot. The properties in red are on the highest ground, which lose water pressure first and are therefore most likely to be affected should interruptions continue. Conversely, the green properties sit on the lowest ground and will be affected last.
As our reservoir levels gradually replenishes itself, our engineers will continue to mitigate impact to residents as far as possible, while are customer team delivers bottled water to those most in need. We are also continuing to operate our drive-through bottled water station Grayswood Village Hall, Grayswood Road, Haslemere GU27 2DJ, which will close at 21:00 this evening and reopen in the morning, should these interruptions resurface.
Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve these issues and please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any queries or concerns. We will continue to update you and your colleagues as these issues progress, and should your residents need to report a new interruption to their supply or need direct support, please direct them to our 24-hour line on 0800 316 9800.
I am writing
to update you on ongoing water supply issues to properties in and around the
Haslemere area.
Since we updated you this morning, our engineers have been working hard to keep supply disruption to a minimum through the use of tankers, with only some pockets of residents seeing a complete loss of supply over this afternoon. As demand drops and our reservoir gradually replenishes itself, we expect some of these interruptions to continue into tomorrow.
For residents
living in these areas, we have set up a bottled water collection point at
Grayswood Village Hall, Grayswood Road, Haslemere GU27 2DJ, and we have updated
our website to notify residents of this location. This station will remain open
until 21:00 this evening, and will then be reopened from tomorrow morning.
To ensure the
health and safety of residents and our staff, we are asking residents to arrive
and remain in their vehicle, while our team on site load the water into their
vehicle. We have also delivered bottled water to residents registered on our
priority services register and are working with local resilience partners to
further identify any residents that may be shielding or require additional
support during the current pandemic.
We will
continue to update you and your colleagues as these issues progress. Should
your residents need to report a new interruption to their supply or need direct
support, please direct them to our 24-hour line on 0800 316 9800.
Mayor John Robini has been leading the Town Council and Waverley BC response to lack of water supply in Haslemere in the past 48 hours. Cllr Robini is arranging a meeting with Thames Water, the chief executive of Waverley and others to try and look at the long term solution, as this has been going on for several years.
Today, I met contractors on site. Half of Haslemere continues to be without water while Thames Water ferries tankers (capacity 19,000 litres) from Godalming to top up the reservoir in order to restore supplies to our homes. They are also topping up water supplies (yesterday in Tennysons Lane and today in Scotland Lane) by pumping water directly into the water supply.
Haslemere Town Councillor, Cllr Ellis wrote:
Thames Water forced to bring in 16-20 emergency supply tankers of water per day to keep our reservoir topped up. Haslemere's infrastructure is under severe pressure — while solutions are being found for immediate needs, check HTC website for information. Please conserve water!
— Dr Kirsten Ellis – writer and Independent cllr. (@CouncillorIndie) June 2, 2020
Haslemere Town Councillor, Cllr Weldon confirmed emergencies supplies are being delivered to priority households and collection points are being arranged:
This is not the first time Haslemere has run out water, and is a wake-up call that key infrastructure issues – like the supply of water – must be addressed (not just in Haslemere but also across the Thames Basin) where towns are mandated to take hundreds of new houses imposed by central government. Clearly significant investment is going to be required. Central government must take the lead and utility companies must legally be required to fulfil their obligations.
Climate change, with more frequent extreme weather events will exacerbate the fragility of our water supply- action must be taken as a matter of urgency.
Councillors have received the update below from Thames Water’s Local Government Liaison Officer:
Dear Councillors,
I am writing to update you on ongoing water supply issues to properties in and around the Haslemere area.
From earlier this morning, supplies in our reservoir that serves properties to the south west of Haslemere were outstripped by record demand, which had gradually depleted these supplies over the past few days.
During this time, our engineers were able to employ tankers to manage these levels, but demand has now exceeded this supply and so we have begun to see reports of no water from residents stretching into this afternoon. These reports are likely to continue through the remainder of the day as demand drops and our reservoir is able to replenish itself.
We wholly recognise the disruption this interruption will cause to residents, and our teams are working to set up bottled water stations in the area, the locations of which I will share with you as soon as I can. These stations will work on a drive-through basis to allow residents to collect water in line with current government guidance on social distancing.
We are also reviewing our Priority Services Register (PSR) to deliver bottled water directly to those who most need it, which residents can sign on to using this link: https://www.thames-psr.org/.
It may be helpful to explain that record dry weather is combining with current lockdown restrictions to cause unprecedented demand on our network, as residents stay home in exceptional numbers. To offer some sense of the scale, on Bank Holiday Monday alone we pumped an extra 63 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water in the Thames Valley – around a third more than normal.
As such, we are asking residents to help reduce demand by using water sparingly, either by switching off hoses and sprinklers, avoiding washing cars or taking only short showers, and I would be very grateful for any support your teams can lend in driving these messages, especially at peak draw hours.
We will continue to update residents through the day, and we will provide a further update to you and your colleagues as these issues progress.
For your information can I advise you of emergency works being carried out on Hindhead Road, Haslemere (approximately 85m south of the junction with Critchmere Hill).
South East Water need to repair a leaking water pipe. The
traffic management that is placed is Two-Way Signals and the estimated end date
is the 13/12/2019.
We have requested manual control between 06:30-09:30 &
16:00-18:30 to minimise disruption as much as possible.
I hope you find this information useful.
Kind Regards,
Network
Coordinator – Waverley
Network
Coordination Team
Network and Asset
Management Group
Surrey Highways
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Councillor,
For your information can I advise you of emergency works being carried out on Farnham Lane, Haslemere (outside the property called Woobury).
Thames Water need to repair a leaking water pipe. The
traffic management that is placed is a Road Closure and the estimated end date
is the 16/12/2019.
From: Network Coordinator – Waverley Sent: 05 December 2019 To: Nikki Barton <Nikki.Barton@surreycc.gov.uk> Subject: Emergency Utility Works; Highercombe Road, Haslemere
Dear Councillor Barton,
For your information can I advise you of emergency works
being carried out on Highercombe Road, Haslemere (outside the property called
‘South Grays’).
Thames Water need to repair a leaking water pipe in the
carriageway. The traffic management that is placed is a Road Closure and the
estimated end date is the 11/12/2019.
Subject: Emergency Utility Works; Church Lane, Haslemere (Thames Water)
Dear Councillor,
For your information can I advise you of emergency works
being carried out on Church Lane, Haslemere (outside Haslemere Health Centre).
Thames Water need to repair a water leak in the
carriageway. The traffic management that is placed is a Road Closure and the
estimated end date is the 20/08/2019.
The letter below is being sent to Tennyson’s Lane residents today regarding the works by Thames Water to replace a Trunk Main. I wrote about this here earlier this week.
Resident Letter from Thames Water
Thames Water have shared with me that they had a leak on site yesterday, as the team suspected. During a hand dig operation they exposed a ferrule which was certainly already leaking. The team stayed till 10pm last night to get this fixed and are now continuing the planned works on the trunk main.
Thames Water needs to replace the large diameter water pipe (Trunk Main) which feeds all the other smaller pipe to prevent leaks in the future. This large water pipe provides water to a huge area in Haslemere so it’s essential that it’s replaced.
Tennyson’s Lane will be closed from the junction with Scotland Lane to the junction with Chase Lane. A road closure is required as Tennyson’s Lane is far too narrow for any other alternative form of traffic management. They will also be carrying out works on Scotland Lane (close to the junction) so there will be Multi-Way Signals as well. The works are due to take place between 27/05/2019-07/07/2019.
I have been informed that Thames Water are to liaise with Waverley Borough Council to address waste refuse collections.
