Getting the water company to renew shared supply

joew_2

Hi

We have a shared supply to 4 houses which presently has OK pressure but poor flow.

We have contacted the water company and they say we can either have a new connection at the front of the house (all the water facilities are at the rear) or all the homeowners on the shared supply must pay to install new connections to renew the shared supply.

This seems unfair to me as we are supposed to have a right to a good water supply, and we are paying them for it.

Does anyone know a way around this?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Perhaps you should look at the ofwat site - or contact them for advice.

birchscrub

Probably need a little more detail to comment fully but the company only has a duty to take the supply pipe from the water main in the street to the boundary wall of the property or garden (in company parlance this is the communication pipe). In your garden and to your house is your responsibility.

The best move might be to get the thing checked for leaks - it will need all four houses to turn everything off at the same time, and you'll probabaly need the company to come and check it, unless you are on a meter (on a shared supply this is unlikely) This might make you liable if they find any leaks in your garden though.

I'm not really sure how you can have good pressure but poor flow - you mean the supply gets all round the house but runs out of all the taps poorly?

Vomityspice

We had a similar problem with a shared water pipe with just one neighbour. The metal pipe (over 100 years old ) had obviously corroded over time and our water pressure was rubbish. Anglian water were not interested as the supply pipe was under our back garden. However, they were willing to quote to do the job!

We hired a mini-drigger, dug a 50 mtr trench and then laid two new pipes, made the connection on our land (as they wanted £450+vat each to do the connection from the mains!), then buried the pipes.

Water pressure now fantastic!

The cost of the digger (with driver) was £200, the pipes (Screwfix) £50 and assorted connections and service valves £80. Our neighbour was happy to share the cost. Best money we ever spent! It took a year for the garden to recover........

deanos

Anglian Water will connect for free if you are replacing old lead pipes

joew_2

Thank you everyone for the advice. I didn't realise that the thread had been replied to until today.

Will try Severn Trent with the replacing lead pipes angle today, will also call ofwat. Will post the results.