Frustration as water pipe bursts five times in six months in Daventry district village

On Monday, Anglian Water was called once again to King Street in Long Buckby to deal with flooding caused by a burst water pipe.

King Street resident Matthew Kinross said water was pouring out of a section of road which had been repaired following a previous incident.

He said: “I have lived here for a long time and this has happened several times over the years but in the past six months it’s happened almost every month.

“Each burst results in a loss of water supply for residents, road closure, a waste of police time, loss of a red route for the fire brigade, flooded cellars, car parking problems and congestion and loss of trade for local businesses.

“When is something going to be done to seriously address this problem?

“These look like very old, cast-iron pipes and sometimes large areas of road have to be dug up because it can be difficult to identify where the leak originates from as the water flows to the weakest point.

“I think the services under this road are just very old and need to be replaced. There needs to be a long-term solution.

“It does get repaired very quickly but it’s an inconvenience to residents. It’s a key route out of the village and the alterative is much longer.”

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “We are very sorry residents in Long Buckby have experienced periods of low water pressure, or no water at all following a series of burst pipes in the local area over the past few weeks.

“Our engineers have been working to fix a valve on our water network which was causing the disruption.

“This work has now been completed. We know how inconvenient bursts can be, but we would like to reassure residents that we are monitoring the network closely to prevent any further disruptions from this issue.

“Unfortunately, a further burst pipe occurred on King Street, which is separate to the previous bursts in the area.

“Pipes can burst for a number of different reasons, including changes in temperature, which can cause the ground around the pipe to move.

“We have seen cold snaps over the recent weeks and this is the most likely cause of the latest burst.

“Our engineers are on site making the necessary repairs.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused to local residents and would like to thank them for their patience while we get things back to normal.”