Water waste

WATER waste . . . the leaking pipe

Enough water to fill a swimming pool goes down the drain

A PENSIONER has complained that a broken pipe has been left gushing water for weeks — leaking enough to flood Oldham Swimming Pool.

On April 3, Alan Wood spotted that an old railway signal box at Waterloo Street had been vandalised and a plastic pipe was pouring out thousands of gallons of water.

The 79-year-old contacted both the police and United Utilities twice but says nothing was done.

Ten days later, after spotting that water was still gushing out, he alerted the Evening Chronicle.

But an investigation was today still ongoing into who is responsible for the pipe and what’s causing the problem, amid suspicions that another building is being illegally connected to the water network.

The alert pensioner has calculated that it’s leaking one gallon of water every four seconds, or 15 gallons a minute, or 900 gallons an hour, or 21,600 gallons a day.

Over the course of 10 days that’s a whopping 216,000 gallons.

It takes 250,000 gallons to fill Oldham Swimming Pool. But the leak could have been sprung well before Mr Wood spotted it and is still gushing. Over 17 days it would have spurted out 367,200 gallons.

Mr Wood, from Nether Hey Street, said: “The signal box doors were ripped off and it looked like someone had vandalised it.

“I went in and shouted to see if someone was in, but there was no one there.

“I spotted the leak and reported it twice to the police and United Utilities which said it was nothing to do with them but would contact the railway police. But nothing has been done.

“It’s annoying me. Water is being lost and no-one takes any notice.

“I was surprised to see all the water but you can actually hear it from the gate.

“It’s going into the cellar so it’s escaping from there somewhere.

“I put a gallon pot down and it filled in four seconds so I made the calculations.”

A United Utilities spokesman said it was an old, disused pipe that falls under ownership of Oldham Council. The matter had been passed on to the council to inspect on April 3.

He added that cameras showed the pipe was capped at both ends and shouldn’t be leaking.

The Chronicle understands there are concerns that a near-by building may have been illegally connected to the pipe network, which has caused the problem.

A council spokesman said an investigation to find out who is responsible for the pipe and what is causing the problem is ongoing.


Council tenants are to get advice about fitting water meters and saving money.

Oldham Council has a contract with United Utilities to collect water charges for council-owned homes and sheltered accommodation being modernised by Housing 21, until 2014.

Now tenants will also get advice from United Utilities about properties where it would be possible to fit a water meter and save money.

Free water meters would help households pay only for the water they use, and United Utilities has identified a number of one and two-bed flats which would benefit.

Oldham Council will still collect the payments, but at a reduced rate based on the usage.

Tenants would have 13 months to review the savings and either opt to continue with their meter, or go back to paying water rates.