Water chaos in Highbury

By Helen Roxburgh

MORE than 50 residents in Highbury were left without water last week when a water main burst.

Water poured down Hamilton Park onto Highbury Grove last Saturday, causing traffic disruption and frustation.

Twenty-one houses on Hamilton Park had their water supply cut off by Thames Water engineers at midday, and it was not returned for more than six hours.

Slow-moving vehicles through the water along Highbury Grove lead to traffic conjestion, and Hamilton Park was closed while the pipe was repaired.

Rachel Fairbrother, a spokesperson for Thames Water, said it was not clear what had caused the pipe to burst.

“It could have been from the traffic overhead, or it could just have deteriorated over time,” she said. “But we would not rule out damage from a third party at this stage.”

She added that a resident had reported a leak and that Thames Water had attended the scene within forty minutes.

Eleven complaints have been made to Thames Water over the incident, which intends to investigate the causes of the leak.

“It’s ridiculous,” said mother of two Marni Achmed, who lives on Hamilton Park. “All this water draining away and we have no water all day on Saturday. I don’t know what we pay for.”

Thames Water are still enforcing a hosepipe ban for domestic use across London, due to a severe water shortage.

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