Things we take for granted - #1. Water

Last Wednesday, the last Wednesday in November, the 26th, our water supply failed. Pressure had died away to a mere trickle. I did all the logical stuff, checked the stopcock on the incoming feed - turned it off and the trickle died, turned it back on full and the trickle was restored. Went outside to the water meter / valve. Turned it off and the trickle died, turned it on and the trickle was restored.

I looked at the dial to see whether water was gushing through the meter and out through a hole in the pipe between the meter and the house. This would have been the worst-case scenario. A leak on my side of the meter would have made it my responsibility but there was nothing.

I checked with my neighbour to see whether he had a supply. He ran his tap for me to hear - he still had water so I phoned the 24hour "help" line provided by my water Co., Thames Water.

After navigating through a number of automated menus, i finally made it through to someone. He looked up on the system and said that there had been no other reported issues and so drew the conclusion that the lack of supply was my problem and that I'd have to call a plumber to get it resolved. I was 100% certain that this was not so. However, my argument fell on deaf ears (my argument being that no water was flowing through the meter so the problem must lie upstream).

It was too late to call a plumber so we started to (slowly) fill jugs and saucepans ready for the next day.

Thursday came, a plumber arranged. Due to work volumes, the plumber was not able to make it until towards the end of the business day. He arrived, we talked. He reckoned that it would be a Thames Water issue but proceeded to carry out some basic diagnostics. He dismantled the internal stopcock to check for blockage. He knew it would be clear but needed to prove this so that Thames Water would be convinced that everything had been checked properly.

He went to the water meter and drew the same conclusion as mine earlier - no water was flowing through the meter and so the fault would be upstream of the meter.

He left me with a bill. I called Thames Water. They agreed to get a contractor our within 4 hours. Not bad, I thought. then, an hour later (about 7pm) I had another call from TW. How was the water he asked. Was it enough to get by with until tomorrow? To me, this sounded like someone trying to get out of a night call and defer it until the next day. I told him that the TW help line had advised me that someone would be there within 4 hours of my original call. He then said he'd be there inside 90 minutes.

Fair play, he arrived within an hour with a road crew. They used a power saw to cut through the pavement and a mini digger to start digging down. It's now 8.30ish and they are not quiet.

After about an hour of digging they identified the problem. A piece of packing material that should have been removed prior to the original pipe laying had made its way down the pipe and settled across my spur, cutting the flow. TW were responsible, they will fix and they will meet the cost of the plumber that I had to call.

By now it was late - water supply had been restored and they agreed to come back on Friday to fill in the hole.

Fill in the hole they did but the quality of work is so poor that I think it needs redoing. The pavement was covered in mud - as was the front door and window sills of our house. They left their "Men at Work" signs and the barriers that you can see in the pictures and these were not removed until I emailed Customer Service at TW.

The barriers have now been taken away, the signs have been collected but the pavement is still muddy - less so than it was but this is only after some heavy rain. We should not have been left with a pavement in this condition - it should have been restored to as close tot he condition that it was when originally dug up.

I have notified Customer Service at Thames Water and they responded within their 10 day guidelines - and today (15 December) a far more professional restitution has been made - fair play to Thames Water

However, the experience does make one realise how much we in the west take things for granted and how "big" the problems are when things cease to work as we have come to expect. Does pale in to insignificance though when compared to the current (and ongoing) problems in Zimbabwe