Severn Trent engineers dealing with leak from Buxton underground reservoir

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Residents in the area around Corbar Woods Lane awoke on Thursday, December 22, to find a torrent of water rushing through the streets, appearing to originate from the nearby underground reservoir.

Alan Beswick said: “I was walking the dog this morning, at around 10am and tried to call Severn Trent Water but after 20 minutes there was still no answer and the line dropped unexpectedly.“I saw a local resident who lives on Corbar Road, where a small river was running on each side of the road. He said that Seven Trent had been informed at around 9am this morning and prioritised the job.

“There was still no one there at 10am and apparently he was told it could take up to 12 hours to get an engineer to the site. There must be thousands of litres of water being lost every minute.”

The apparent source of the leak is the underground reservoir off Corbar Woods Lane.

When contacted by the Advertiser, Severn Trent said that the recent freeze-thaw weather conditions meant staff were dealing to a higher-than-average number of incidents, but a team was at the site by 12.30pm.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the leak on Corbar Woods Lane. We have engineers on site inspecting and investigating, and it will be their priority to start repairs as soon as they can.”

On Monday, December 19, Severn Trent issued an appeal to customers to report any issues, given the likely impact of warmer weather.

Jodie Bowen, who leads the customer contact department, said: “When the ground freezes then rapidly unfreezes it can cause ground movement, putting pressure on our pipes and causing them to burst. We’re asking our customers to report any leaks they see while they are out and about so we can fix them fast.”

There was a significant flow of water from the leak.

Anyone experiencing water supply issues at home should first check whether neighbours are affected to rule out frozen pipes in the property, in which case they should turn off the stop tap and gently warm the pipe using a hairdryer or a heater.

To report infrastructure issues, call 0800 783 4444 or go to stwater.co.uk/reportaleak.

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