Resident says action was too slow over garden water leak

Dilton Marsh resident, Mary Myles, says that her complaints to Selwood Housing and Wessex Water following a water leak across her front garden, went unheeded. She says the leak made it impossible to walk to her home and caused an “unbearable” smell. 

Mary, who lives in The Circle in Dilton Marsh said she was concerned that the leaked water contained sewage. She said her son frequently contacted both Selwood Housing and Wessex Water, with no response. 

Mary says she was also worried about her neighbours, who have a disabled daughter, and were unable to carry her wheelchair across the unknown substance. 

Mary said, “It makes me question what we pay for if they don’t come to fix our problems. Nobody will touch it and I can’t go up my path. My brother, David, is blind so has to manoeuvre his way around it as you can’t walk through it. I also had to close my bedroom window as I couldn’t sleep with the smell!” 

After the White Horse News contacted the relevant organisations, Selwood Housing and Wessex Water, visited Mary again to solve the problem. 

A Wessex Water spokesman said, “We were quickly able to confirm that it was not sewage in the garden but were keen to do as much as we could to help a customer who was distressed.

 “We carried out monitoring and investigation work late into the evening and found that the problem was caused by a nearby fresh water stream, rather than any pipes we are responsible for.

 “We’re pleased to hear Selwood Housing have arranged to deal with the problem.”

 In response, Selwood Housing said, “We were notified on 14th August of a water leak by a customer. We raised the issue directly with Wessex Water who visited the property on 15th August and confirmed there was a leak from a private supply pipe, which was not a sewage leak. Wessex Water repaired the issue on 23 August.

“A second water leak was reported to our customer support team on 30 August which was immediately raised to Wessex Water on behalf of our affected customers. Wessex Water has investigated, and we have jointly identified that the cause of the issue is a local, fresh water spring.

“We are working with our contractor to divert this, with works set to begin this week. We are ensuring that our affected customers are fully updated on developments.”