Two months of water down the drain

A mains leak has been wasting water for almost two months

Paul Watkinson first highlighted the problem to United Utilities on February 13 and claimed the water authority said workers would “look into the matter”.

“When I made a second call, they said there was a slight delay due to fibre optic broadband cables and it would be dealt with in the next few days,” Paul explained.

“I don’t live near Hollins Road, but I regularly pass there and I hate to see this amount of waste — it is disgusting.”

United Utilities’ Matt Navesey said: “This particular leak is very close to an important fibre optic cable and we had to seek permission from the company which owns it before we could begin to dig.

“Permission has now come through so we will be able to repair the pipe over the next couple of days.”