Shared Pipes and low water flow

A question about : Shared Pipes and low water flow

Hi,

I am having a real nightmare with South West Water. We recently got a new boiler installed, hoping the water pressure would be better. We have an electric shower which stops working at peak times. I called the customer service centre and they sent an inspector around. I was told, that he straight away knows that we will struggle with water supply to our house as we are on a shared supply pipe, which means that we are sometimes even left without any water. South West Water claims that it is not their problem and we have to have a look to get a direct water supply pipe put towards our house which we have to pay completely for, they even told me that they by law do not have to make sure that we have water, they only have to make sure there is a main water pipe down the road. I am absolutely fuming.

Any ideas from anyone of you?

Jupiter

Best answers:

• I am afraid my only real advice would be to see how much it would cost to split the supply as the water company does not have to.
  Also there is no law in this country to say that you have to have running water supplied to your property.
• Hi Gothicfairy,
  Thank you for your reply. I am very shocked about this. I am speechless to be very honest. This rule or law is absolutely mad. Here in Cornwall I do not want to think how many of us have a shared water supply and are not even aware of it. By the way, do you know that South West Water sells to customers an Insurance for supply pipes over their partner Homeserve, nobody is mentioning, that supply pipes which are not on my property are not covered. They do not even acknowledge them as supply pipes, they even say it is not my responsibility, it is the responsibility of South West Water's. South West Water's puts the responsibility on me. How can I be responsible for something what is not even on my property? When I have a neighbour who does not like me, I am, excuse my French fu..ed. Why are companies like British Gas and EDF are not having such a rule, they have to come and they have to deal with this on their costs. The question is also, how can be shared pipes legal then. What does an OAP do when they cannot afford a repair, live without water? I expected that from a third world country but not from England to be very honest.
  Jupiter
• You don't get shared supply's anymore , its only on older houses especially terrace ones where they are common.
  And its perfectly legal
• so your on a csp pipe; common supply pipe ; how far away are you form the 1st supply in the chain ? ; are you in a terrace block or semi detached ;? all of things are factors in your supply ; is your supply diminshed at just peak times or is it all the time ?
• are u on lead pipes or ac ... blue plastic ?
• ask your water supplier too test the bar pressure for your supply pipe and then again at the 1st incomming tap in your property ; if it takes more than 2minutes too fill a regular sized black b and q bucket then you have aright too complain ; the clo ... client liason officer will need too make an appointment with you for this ; ask him too explain which number property you are away from the point of join too the supply pipe ; no1 is the nearest and will have very good pressure all the time ... as the higher the number the worse the water pressure will be; its worth arguing that you do not have enough water supply too use your fascilites at your property and that the pressure at the main valve on the water mains needs too be increased
• On what qualified basis do two posters spot this thread on a consumerist website and then dare to post one liners asserting that a completely disgraceful situation is perfectly legal ??
  This website exists to challenge such views not to propound them.
  Go back to your water company hidey holes
  7e's that's more like it ... I am sure there is still an accepted industry minimum flow rate at your tap as 7e's describes even though there may not be a minimum pressure - but to get one you often need the other tweaked as he says
  Unlike 7e's, I have no direct ideas on how you tame the water company Jupiter1, but I have little doubt that if the government was not running so scared of other stuff at the moment and if some effective lobbyists heads could be turned for a short while to bringing the water companies to heel then some pretty basic legal challenges could be successfully prosecuted in cases like yours.
  I recently have spent a completely necessary Ј600 to deal with the reduced pressure that Thames Water have progressively applied to the network covering our road over the last couple of years.
  It is an abysmal disgrace that water companies have a monopoly and that left alone relatively unchallenged as they effectively are, as a group they do not compete on such matters - they act as a cartel, reduce the service and tell each other and any complainer that it is al perfectly legal.
  I don't know if you are indeed an OAP but if you were and especially if you were over 75 I would be hammering the Adult Care Unit of my local council to get something done about it and I would be claiming non-means tested Attendance Allowance as a backstop to pay for any work which I still ended up having to pay myself.
  There's more than one way of making this flippin' country work sometimes.
• We are 5 houses who seem to be on this pipe. I am with my neighbour the last one on this pipe which means we have the worst water flow. They won't even check my water pressure in my house. We have huge problems at peak times where we are left with hardly any water. South West Water is not interested in my case, saying it is my problem. The area we live in is very old which is not very unusual in Cornwall. When you call their call centre they have the opposite opinion, they actually told me that these pipes are not my responsibility it would be theirs as I am on a meter and everything before the meter would be South West Water's responsibility, so thinks their Insurance company Homeserve but the water inspector who came around told me it would be my responsibility. They are absolutely incompetent in my eyes and I already filed an official complaint. We will see but how can I sort pipes out which are not on my property?
• Have you tried to make sure the external stoptap is fully open ?
  You should be able to fill a 9 litre bucket in around minute from the first tap after the internal stoptap, if not insist someone comes out, if they wont then put in a complaint and they will soon sort you out as complaints are now part of the OFWAT regulations now and impact on there income
• Hi Peter,
  Thanks for your reply. I am not an OAP but all my neighbours are and I am really concerned. I will fight it all the way and I am even prepared to speak to the press and to my MP. These pipes run through gardens, where are green houses, patios etc they would to have remove all that and I have to pay for this, they are not even able to tell me how much it will be. The inspector even laughed in my face as I said that there is a big possibility to be without water, he only replied, that this would be my problem. I never ever came across a behaviour like this before.
• Which Chuckle Brother are you this time, deanos ? Must've been your brother who posted earlier - now we're talking .... to me, to you - up a bit - and a bit more
  Jupiter, if you have a group of OAP neighbours whom you know are suffering like you, then again, the Adult Care Team at the Council might be interested. They are very hot on making sure senior citizens are easily able to wash and shower and quite right too.
  We are miles behind real first world countries on some really basic things. In a country only twice as far as the crow flies from me in London as Cornwall is , where I was last weekend, individual houses do not need boilers because all the hot water is piped at a constant 60 degrees Celsius in highly maintained insulated pipes in the street. It is sold effectively by the cubic meter except it has an assumed energy content based on it being returned to the system at depleted 34 degrees I think. The energy content is charged at about 8p per kWh. The cold supply is simply charged at about Ј7 per cubic metre and that includes the sewerage charge. The hot water is used to heat the houses with underfloor heating in almost every room in every house whether built last year or last century.
  And the sewers are maintained to such a high standard that if you dont read the warning notices they post two days before you could get a blast of warm bubbled air up the jacksie from the monster machine 300 yards away plugged into the system keeping the drains clear and shipshape in every street. Seriously ! Happened to a 17 year old friend who let his Mum & Dad deal with the notices and got the all clear where he was least expecting it when he had just settled down to giving his very best impression of "The Thinker" one morning after a lie-in
• I was just stating the facts, they are legal that's how houses were built back then and are not any longer
• Hi deanos,
  We had a plumber around who already tested it and spoke also to South West Water, he told them that we sometimes do not even have one bar water pressure. They said that they only have to make sure that they provide a certain water pressure at their main pipe not at my house. If I am without water it would be not their problem. That is what they said to me and that is even what the Consumer Council for Water said to me. So if you are without Water and you cannot afford to get pipes sorted out who are not even on your property then it is your problem. I feel like living at medieval times.
• that is correct the clo would come too the boundary of house no1 test too see if the water is there and then walk away if it is leaving you with no supply ; csp ... common supply pipes are a private issue belonging jointly and equally too all of those properties that are connected too it;
  even if you have a sole supply fitted directly too the mains ; you cant just cut off or remove an old csp if other properties could be affected you have too leave the csp live and in situe until every single property is on sole useage
• If you neighbour wont let anyone dig in the garden how would the water company lay a pipe ?
• Peter, you make me laugh. I am originally come from Germany and the law for these companies there are totally different, over there the water company has to make sure you have water and you are only responsible for the pipes after the water metre. My husband who is English cannot even believe that this kind of rule exists in England. But it is definitely worth trying the Adult Care Team to put them on it. On Friday the team manager for South West Water will come around. I already spoke to my neighbours and some of them will turn up too, have a look what South West Water have to offer then.
• Jupiter, i know it's an upsetting situation, more so because of the fact it will cost money to fix. However, your water company is quite right in what they are advising you. Any company in the UK will advise the same thing - its the law, set by the UK governement.
  As galling as it is for you, i'd advise you not to waste your time trying to get them to change their mind - it's a lost cause. You will only waste time and energy and get yourself worked up for longer.
  Is there nothing you can do to spread the cost - are there any grants you can get?