Whoop's that wasn't Supposed to Happen

Recently the water point at Newbold was in the process of being moved as it was alleged that the present one was linked to the Barley Mow pubs water meter and the present owner was unhappy with this situation.

A new stand pipe has been erected just south of the existing one and the pipe run around the side of the pubs car park down to the road awaiting connection to the mains. This task has been in abeyance since before Xmas but this morning on our way to catch the bus we found the road had been reduced to a single lane and a trench dug half way across the road with a huge heavy steel plate over the top of it. When we got closer we found that the steel plate was there to stop a fountain of water shooting up into the air as there was water gushing out from under the steel plate all over the road. It appears that the contractor dug a little too deeply when digging the trench and severed the water main.

After being in town for a couple of hours we returned to find that the situation was unchanged and the water had not been turned off. The towns water supply must have gone down quite dramatically in that time. In New Zealand the leak would have been sealed off a lot sooner safe guarding town water supplies. Perhaps they have bigger reservoirs in the UK and don’t need to worry about these things, its only water after all said and done.