Rustington tenants overflowing with frustration after pipe leaks for three years

Repeated requests by residents of Woking Court for the leak to be fixed have prompted a series of investigations and site visits by Arun District Council officials and contractors, but still the water is going to waste.

Fiona Eyre, who used to be manager of the complex and still lives in her home there, has led the complaints to Arun.

Although the overflow pipe serves flats next to her house, the water runs down into her back yard, which has frozen over in the recent cold snap, leaving the path to her yard gate icy and treacherous.

Huge icicles have formed around the pipe in previous winters.

At other times of year, the running water leaves a slimy, slippery mould in the yard.

The wall of the flats has a large patch of black mould growing down it, and there appears to be damage to the brickwork, pointing and to the wooden framework of a storage cupboard door.

Fiona said: “It’s been running all year round for three years now. We have had meeting after meeting with Arun people here.

“Their latest bright idea was for us to keep a diary of when the pipe overflows. This occurs overnight, every night – I despair.

“I’m sure Southern Water would be very interested in the gross loss of water resources and council tax payers as well as residents of Woking Court are paying for the lost water as the flats are on a water meter.

“Arun claims to be short of money and is cutting jobs – perhaps if the waste of water was stopped there would be more money in the bank.

“When, oh when, will this problem be solved?”

A spokeswoman for Arun said: “We are making arrangements to clear the mould as a matter of urgency.

“We also have a meeting set up with the commercial director of our heating contractor so that we can determine an action plan together to resolve this ongoing problem.

“Due to various modifications to the plumbing circuits at this property, it has been particularly difficult to identify exactly where the fault lies, but we are doing all we can to resolve the problem and apologise to residents for any inconvenience caused.”