Image description: A hand holding a glass under a running tap to fill it with water. Image by Swanky Fella on Unsplash
Hundreds of residents in blocks of flats in east London have been left without regular running water for more than seven months, as suspicions are raised whether a development in the area may have left it without an adequate supply.
Taps have been running dry in Tower Hamlets, with residents who spoke to the Guardian reporting they first began experiencing water shortages last summer. By December, the problems had become widespread, with at least nine blocks affected. Meanwhile their landlord, the housing association Poplar Harca, has reportedly delayed works to solve the problem.
“access to water is a basic right”
According to the Guardian’s coverage, the water shortage has left hundreds of families unable to properly cook, clean, wash or even flush their toilets. With a fifth heatwave setting in this week, residents say they have yet to be informed why their water suddenly stopped, although some suspect it is because of new housing developments built nearby.
Families, including those classed as vulnerable, have been advised to access public shower facilities at a local leisure centre. Although Polar Harca is legally obliged to provide water to its tenants whose taps had run dry, some residents said they only received their first water deliveries 8 months after the shortages began.
Labour MP for the area , Uma Kumaran, said: “I’m appalled at the situation my constituents find themselves in,” “Access to water is a basic right, yet residents of Devons Road estate have been denied that right for far too long. It’s a gross failure of one of the most fundamental duties a landlord owes to their tenants – especially during record-breaking heatwaves.”
Poplar Harca denies water supply has ever stopped completely
Poplar Harca acknowledges “pressure levels can fluctuate” but denies the water supply has ever stopped completely.
As per the Guardian, Poplar Harca initially attributed the problem to the water supplier, Thames Water, claiming it was supplying “lower flow pressures than in previous years”. However, the housing association has told other residents their flats needed “extensive works” to create a new pump room in their block to increase water pressure. According to the landlord these works are unable to take place until a formal process – called section 20 – was carried out to determine what share of the cost should be borne by leaseholders.
Poplar Harca suggested there was no need for emergency action from a judge but a property solicitor the Guardian spoke to said that may not be the case. Clair Phillips, a senior associate at the law firm Moore Barlow, said: “In circumstances where works are urgent, such as a prolonged loss of water supply, one would ordinarily expect the landlord to undertake the necessary works without delay and then apply to the first-tier tribunal for [urgent] dispensation from the section 20 consultation requirements.”
Nonetheless, the cause for these fluctuations has still not been made clear, with water engineers weighing in to the Guarding with conflicting opinions. Towards the end of last month, Poplar Harca told some residents they could expect the issue to be fixed in six affected blocks between 5 August and 8 September. Work at three blocks is not due to begin until 27 August, meaning some residents will have been left without adequate water for up to a year.