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Water on Ewelme Road
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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #21
02-02-2015 01:22 PM

Midlife, as you can guess the meeting at my house is replaced with this one on Thursday morning.

Agree entirely. I took a video of the car that got stuck this morning and have sent it to Paul.

Its a total mess and a dangerous one. We also had to abandon our car and take the kids to school and drs on foot a rather complicated and freezing journey.

Hopefully Thursdays meeting will provide some concerted action. Even when its not icy the water cascades around our car when it rains and we have to wade through water to get in and out.

Even if these are springs someone must be able to do something. There is also a random spring outside Fairlawn. It was springing up with force on Saturday but now its disappeared.

Some years ago random springs appeared in our garage after heavy rain flooding our ground floor. Our premium escalated as the insurers decided we were in a 'flood zone'.

Its worth putting the picture together about the reservoir which is soon to be built over and the persistent leaks from Havelock House and whether all of this is connected.

Paul I also want to raise the issue of water getting into the gas mains and damaging boilers; I have a cupful of sediment in my kitchen. Is this related to the water problem?

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #22
02-02-2015 05:35 PM

I find it baffling that there can be surface water on the slopes of the highest hill in south-east London!

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lacb


Posts: 627
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #23
02-02-2015 06:22 PM

Am not saying it is the cause in this instance but there are springs and aquifers all around these parts. At least once source of the Peck is from the top of One Tree Hill for instance.

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #24
03-02-2015 01:31 PM

Since you are on the highest hill in south-east London the source of any water can only be rainfall on your hill or a burst water main.

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lacb


Posts: 627
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #25
03-02-2015 07:16 PM

It is not the highest hill in SE London but even if it was it wouldn't *preclude* there being a natural water source there. However, I would agree that TW are much more likely to be the culprit.

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #26
04-02-2015 10:20 AM

OK. I will change it to "It is the highest hill in Lewisham." (Shooter's Hill is higher.)

My point is that water finds its own level (Pascal's Vases). Therefore, the source of any spring must be higher.

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flashharry


Posts: 3
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #27
04-02-2015 10:53 AM

I don't think I believe Thames Water. Over the last few years they have dug up various bits of Ewelme Road (including outside my house) and repaired pipes and what seems to happen is that the leak moves to a different part of the road (this can be seen if you look at the patchwork of repairs that have been done over the last 4 years) To my mind these problems became a lot worse when the road was resurfaced (aprox 4 years ago?), a huge truck-like machine was used to strip all the old tarmac off and I remember thinking at the time that it looked very heavy. It could be possible that this process caused further damage to already fragile pipework.

I wonder if anyone from Thames water would care to tell us how old the pipework under the road is?

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #28
04-02-2015 11:01 AM

Everyone who can should attend the meeting tomorrow with Paul Upex and TW 11am junction Ewelme and HOR.

Theres been a suggestion that this has something to do with the persistent water leak further up at Havelock House? Possibly.

Ive lived her 16 years and its been an issue since then at least with the road surface constantly failing with large potholes full of water appearing.

We had water appearing in our garage and kitchen twice 24 hours after heavy rains. tW denied all responsibility. Our insurance premium then doubled as our insurer decided we were in a flood plain.

Weve had our boiler damaged by water ingress plus sediment into the gas main. A potential replacement cost of £4k.

We need some single entity to take ownership and determine the true causation of all of this plus a committment to twice daily and overnight gritting when temps fall.

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midlife


Posts: 24
Joined: Feb 2015
Post: #29
04-02-2015 12:57 PM

I am in complete agreement with Flash Harry. There are persistent leaks on Ewelme Rd which Thames Water have repaired only for them to reappear or appear in another spot. I think there is major damage to pipework underneath caused by road resurfacing and continued heavy traffic. I think Thames Water and the Council are well aware of this and neither is acting responsibly. Their failure to act has now caused a hazardous situation for residents and traffic on this road.

Why did it take so long for Thames Water to reply to my initial report of leaks on the road? Why was I told by Thames Water that major work requiring Council permits needed to be carried out and that there was a problem obtaining permission for works to start? Why has this story changed? What has the council got to say about the matter?

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #30
05-02-2015 09:46 AM

I think the pipework will be as old as the houses. Possibly 100+ years old!
When British Gas replaced the gas mains at my grandmother's house we found that the gas was actually flowing through a hole in the ground as during 100 years the iron pipe had rusted away!

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #31
06-02-2015 08:32 AM

Just taped an accident with a car skidding into a lamppost.

Cars trapped since about 6am this morning with some driving on the pavement . Hardly safe.

I was assured that the road would be gritted but clearly not.

Police not interested.

What an absolute mess. Lots of hot air and no action.

Councillors cancelled a meeting at my home last night replacing it with a meeting on the road this morning where hardly anyone turned up with TW turning up an hour late.

Im taking this now to the press.

How livid am I.

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #32
06-02-2015 08:33 AM

Oh and drivers abusing local residents for the problem.

Lovely.

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #33
06-02-2015 09:19 AM

Your road will not be a priority for gritting as it is not a main road. Also, it is so steep I am not sure if gritting lorries could actually get up your road!

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #34
06-02-2015 09:28 AM

We were promised gritting by local councillors. I hope that didbt mean a load of salt just dumped on the pavement for residents to spread themselves as that aint gonna happen.

Who is going to help us sort this out; its hell every morning and what if that car had run into schoolchildren rather than a lamp post which fortunately stopped it in its tracks.

Anyone know how to post photos/videos on this website- also contacts for the BBC London newsdesk? Only naming and shaming is going to work here I think.

Eagerly awaiting an update on the TW meeting which took place yesterday despite TW being horrendously late but then theyve been ' late' for at least 16 years ...

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #35
06-02-2015 09:46 AM

The BBC website says:-

"At BBC London we do our best to cover all the stories and issues we can, but the capital is a big place and we'd love to hear from you if you think there's anything interesting and important we should know about. Email us your stories, pictures and videos to yourlondon@bbc.co.uk"

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #36
06-02-2015 09:53 AM

Can I suggest uploading to youtube and including a link on this site. Youtube video can also be used by local news organisations.

I would suggest that if the council are not able to keep this road gritted, that they close the top of the road, as they did to the bottom of Canonbie last winter. When the road is icy it is clearly not suitable for vehicle access and should be closed off.

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midlife


Posts: 24
Joined: Feb 2015
Post: #37
06-02-2015 01:36 PM

This situation is utterly ridiculous. The road is treacherous. How many accidents do there have to be before council act responsibly. Residents who met with 2 councillors yesterday were dealing with the chaos caused by ice on this again this morning. It is completely unacceptable.

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #38
06-02-2015 02:16 PM

Did you witness the car crash into the lamp post and another drive on the pavement to avoid the ice?

Help me get the press down and they can do the work for us?

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #39
06-02-2015 04:35 PM

Just spoken to Kate Gould of SLP and sent her some photos. She d like to speak to others - I think theyd like to cover this next week and take some photos this week.

Please can others give her a call?

If it gets in the local press BBC might pick it up as an interest story and failure of utility companies to get it sorted.

Kate.gould@slp.co.uk

0208 8359709

Thank you Michael Abrahams for the contact details!

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #40
08-02-2015 11:35 AM

We are looking at temperatures of 8-10 this week so a repeat of last weeks many events which were less than pretty is unlikely however we are still in early February so theres plenty of opportunities yet for freezing surface water.

Would be good to get the action points from Thursdays meeting with TW reported here along with a formal statement from the Council as to what is proposed. If this is really a spring then whats the solution- some sort of underwater chamber to channel excess groundwater? Im not an expert but Id imagine something like this was on the cards.

Others have linked this to Havelock House: how do we prove/disprove conclusively where this excess comes from.

This problem has been in existence for well over a decade requiring repeated road resurfacing works at public cost - and private inconvenience. There is also surely a possibility of the subsoil being washed away substantively by this and the road collapsing? Excess running water isnt actually great for physical structures.

The debate and search for answers mustnt be allowed to fade away

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