Very low water pressure for nearly 3 weeks ssw

[Pammij]

Hi

Can someone help me please?

We have a problem with very low water pressure for nearly 3 weeks now.

We cant shower, bath wont fill, toilet takes ages to refil after  flush and my washing machine wont fill.

We have 3 adults in the house, myself, my partner & daughter

We are  block of 4 houses.

 

South staffs water were notified of the prob came out & traced it to the back garden mains of one of the properties, but cant pinpoint which one.

 

cutting a long long story short, they said they would dig & investigate.

They got us to sign a permission form last week, which all houses did, except next door no 40.

I only found out today that this is why nothings been started yet, as they need the form signed.

Problem is they wont ans the door, ignore notes left.

They dont speak much english.

 

I suffer health problems and havent been able to get my hair washed for nearly 3 weeks.

I can wash with a kettle of water but i feel so dirty all the time its effecting my mental health now. 

 

Ive tried citizens advice but i cant get through.

3 of the houses are brought & ours is private rented. 

She said they can force repair tgen charge whoever or all for it, but they are now saying they cant even do that if they dont receive that form from next door.

 

We cannot live like this for much longer & i dont know what to do

Thankyou for any help you can offer

[BankFodder]

I've just been in contact with a friend of mine who works for a different water company.

I've been told that this is not an uncommon problem and it is very difficult to resolve.

What we don't understand is that you seem to be saying that you live in a row of four houses – which I take maybe to be terraced houses. With the problem as you are describing it, we imagined that you would be living in a block of flats served by a single main.



Secondly, apparently all water companies have a database of maps of the main pipework – certainly up to the mains before the supply to the house. If you access the website for your water supplier, you might be able to search that and you may start to untangle a bit of the problem and I think it will help everybody if we can get hold of a plan of the pipework so we can see.


Secondly, you say that the problem is exacerbated by the people next door's who are not necessarily British and who speak very little English.

This suggests to me that they could be of Asian origin, speaking and Asiatic language – but I was suddenly wondering whether they were religious in some particular way.

For instance if they were Muslim, I was wondering whether it might be possible to contact their local mosque/imam and explain the problem to that person and maybe that person would be prepared to visit them and to explain that there was nothing to be worried about.
It seems to me that they need to talk to somebody that they feel they can trust and have confidence in

I don't know whether your neighbours next door's are simply being extremely cautious because of Covid – or maybe they are simply not trusting of a big organisation like the water company – which they probably don't particularly understand – and probably fairly faceless.

Does any of this sound interesting as a way forward?

[BankFodder]

Okay I've received it and I've forwarded it to my contact who is on a different water company but may be able to come up with some ideas.

You've given me some details in the email which I think is fine to put up on the forum and I think you should. That is the description of the property et cetera and you may find that somebody else will be able to come and put that information to good use for you.

Obviously keep your actual address details out of it.

So please give as much information as possible.

Secondly, if you have the name of the person who apparently won't give their permission, then maybe you could have a look on the Internet. There are Asian naming conventions – and naming conventions for anywhere else in the world and it might give you a good clue as to some characteristics of their cultural background. If you can identify them as being part of a particular religious community then frankly I would find out where is the meeting centre for that community – Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist – et cetera and tried to speak to the person in charge there who I'm sure will be very helpful.
These people are very heavily engaged in looking after the interests of the community and so I think this would be a good way forwards.

[Pammij]

Thankyou for helping.

 

In addition to my post for anyone experiencing similar, we are a row of 4 terraced houses, there is no entryways to the back gardens.

We have 2 main stopcocks on our proprty in the back garden, one serves just this house & the other serves 2 houses to the right. Investigative work was done with a machine that bounces a signal off the undergrond pipes, but as next door has a part plastic, the signal cant go through.

No evidence of water pooling anywhere, so must be underground.

The last house on the row has no water upstairs whatsoever, we, 2 doors up have very limited water, the shower wont work due to no pressure (its stone cold & its a brand new shower)..the bath takes an hour for an inch of water, the toilet cistern drips in after flushing & washing machine wont work, again due to not enough water coming in. The boilor is constantly losing pressure.

Hope this info helps 

[BankFodder]

I understand the water company is entitled to disregard the permission of the property holder if they consider it is an emergency. Have you asked the water company why they haven't implemented their emergency powers?

Have you done any research on your neighbours name?

[Pammij]

Initially tbey said they could force repair...but i rang this morning & they said they could but they wont as its just the form they waiting for from nxt door. I asked what happens if they dont sign it & she said they must sign the form before we can schedule the work, maybe i should knock & ask or push  note through telling them to sign

I have but they wont answer as i explained ...i think its really wrong the water board puts it back onto me. As they have more legal power & persuasion than me, i dont want to look like im harrassing them, but obviously i need a water supply.

 

 

[Pammij]

I have just caught someone coming out of the house next door, a relative, i run up to the car & told him the situation, i said they must sign the form to get water on, he said they have no water either & will pass message on to his brother, i think they are turkish, or very similar. He spoke some english anyway.

He said water board should tell them not me....this is why i really think that south staffs water should be pushing this

[BankFodder]

Well of course he's right. It is the water board who should tell him.

Maybe you should get onto the water board and say that you have spoken to your neighbour and that your neighbour says that they have received any contact about this at all.

Also, is there a Turkish community somewhere?

Maybe you could provide them with a copy of the letter that you have received and try to begin a dialogue with them.

[Pammij]

Contacted water again to tell them i wasnt happy doing the pushing. She went away for 20 mins & come back to tell me their form was recieved 2 days ago! And they will be in touch to say when tbey will be scheduling the work!

Im going to complain about the way this was handled by them.

 

2 water vans have just pulled up outside. Apparantly there may be a leak 2 houses down now.

Their communication is soo bad, the leak moves with each phone call or visit! 

This is now the 3rd house they have blamed.

I willet you know if anything changes. Thankyou so much for your help

[Ethel Street]

If you can find out for sure what language your neighbour speaks you could ask the water board to put a copy of the letter and the form through their door in their own language. Utility companies  generally their forms and standard letters available in the main community languages in the area.

[honeybee13]

I don't know if you would consider doing this, but you can find out the name of whoever owns any house on the Land Registry website. It costs about £3 and it could help you to narrow down what language your neighbours speak.

 

HB

[Pammij]

Its ok they have family visiting at the moment & the brother spoke english ...but they have now signed the form. Anything else can be dealt with by the water boar

[BankFodder]

Sounds good although if I were you I would phone the water board and double check that they have received the form and it is now okay to go.

Also, tell them that it is a bit of an emergency and that some people have scarcely got any water at all and they really need to act very quickly

[Pammij]

Yeah i have said its an emergency for 3 weeks, everytime i rang them...i have checked they have recieved the form so hopefully on our way