Billingshurst mum raises concerns over three-week water leak
A Billingshurst mum has raised concerns about a water leak, which she says has been running for around three weeks.
Vanessa Scampton, who lives near Arun Road, said the leak continued despite Southern Water staff previously attending the site.
She said: "Thousands of litres of fresh water are pouring down the drain every day.
"I contacted them, and from memory, they said their target is repair within 28 days, or 90 if a road closure is needed. This is just so much fresh water wasted during a time when we really need it."
Vanessa said the water company had told her it was aiming to repair the leak by the end of July, but she felt this was too long.
She said there is now a barrier around the leak, which she understood had been put in place by a electricity company, after a power supply issue.
Word on the street is that engineers ‘needed to wait until the electricity board isolated the electricity before they could do a repair’, the Billingshurst resident said.
"The electrics were isolated and [a neighbour] was told the water leak would be fixed today,” Vanessa added.
Southern Water was approached for a statement but had not yet provided one, at the time of publication.
The leak comes amid concerns over water supplies during the summer, with hosepipe restrictions in place in some parts of the country.
A temporary hosepipe ban will come into effect across Sussex from Saturday, July 25, South East Water have confirmed.
It comes after the company asked all customers in Sussex to ‘please use water for essential purposes only’ earlier in July.
A spokesperson for South East Water said: “Due to lower than average rainfall, continued hot weather and high demand, we’ve started to see a decline in river levels and need to protect some groundwater sources.
“This means we must now introduce hosepipe restrictions in Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire to join Kent where there are already restrictions.
“We’re urging everyone across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire who’s supplied by us to please follow these restrictions straight away, to protect your water supply immediately, and the local environment.
“The restrictions will be in force from 00:01 on Saturday 25 July 2026."
In Kent, hosepipe restrictions came into force on Friday, July 3.