 Residents said they thought four litres a minute was being wasted |
South West Water (SWW) has apologised after letting a pipe in a south Devon village leak for two weeks. Residents of West Alvington have lodged a series of complaints with the company since the leak started at an estimated rate of four litres a minute.
They accuse SWW of putting the region at risk of water restrictions if it ignores leaks.
The company said after being contacted by BBC News that it would fix the leak within the next 48 hours.
Repairs increase
West Alvington resident Richard Selby said: "The region is OK in terms of reservoir levels at the moment, but we might not be so lucky in the future.
"It seems reckless for South West Water to ignore issues like this when water rates are so high in the region."
An SWW spokeswoman said: "South West Water would like to apologise for the delay in fixing the leak.
"The company make on average around 500 repairs to leaks and bursts every month and due to a significant increase in these figures over the recent period, we have had to prioritise repairs."
Latest figures show that SWW is losing 83m litres a day through leaks, although it is exceeding targets set by industry regulator OFWAT.
The company says its reservoirs are more than 80% full.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
