Replacing London’s Victorian water mains – an opportunity to find out more

Letter from Thames Water


BB 751174
Andrew Popple
0845 641 0011
01793541 709
18 May 2007


Dear Customer
We will soon be starting work in your area to replace ageing and leaky water mains, and would like to invite you to a drop-in meeting to find out more.

Local streets suffer from a high number of burst pipes and leaks, so we have decided to renew the old cast iron mains with new plastic ones. Although this work will unfortunately involve some disruption, it will mean long-term benefits because there will be less need to dig up streets and make repairs in the future.

These improvements are necessary because much of the region’s pipework is very old. Over half the water mains in London are at least 100 years old, and a third have been in use for more than 150 years. These pipes are under increasing pressure from round-the-clock traffic and a growing population, and now need to be replaced.

We have already carried out similar work in other areas, and have now laid more than 400 miles of new mains.

On 4 June we will begin work to replace 38km of old water pipes across your area, which is planned to be complete by August 2010.

To find out how and when this work will affect you, come and meet us.
Date: Tuesday 29 May
Time: 4pm to 6.30pm
Location: At our customer exhibition unit which will be located in Priory Court Community Centre car park, 11 Priory Court, South Countess Road, E17.

Clancy Docwra have been appointed to carry out these improvements. During our work there will be an interruption to your water supply, but we will warn you in advance. Where your business needs a constant supply of water, please contact us and we will do our best to work with you to meet your needs. If you are not responsible for the maintenance of water services for your building, please would you pass a copy of this letter to the appropriate person.
If your building has a fire main or sprinkler system, please ensure you forward a copy of this letter to the appropriate person. If a separate fire main letter has not been received, please contact us so we can verify our fire main records.

If you do not already have a water meter, one will be installed on the new pipe supplying your property. This meter will be used to check for leaks and improve our understanding of water usage. The new meter will not be used to charge you for your water unless you ask us to. If you live in a block of flats, a house that is converted into separate apartments or if you are connected to a shared supply, there will be one meter installed at the supply pipe boundary. In this case we cannot bill you using the meter, as the meter is unable to record an individual property’s water consumption from a shared supply pipe.

The project may cause some disruption to traffic and pedestrians, but we are liaising closely with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Metropolitan Police, Transport for London and Emergency Services to reduce this.

Please read the enclosed information carefully as it contains important information about this work.

How to contact us
· Our main site office is located at VMR Project Office, Clancy Docwra, c/o Thames Water Depot, Lea Bridge Road, London, E5 9RJ where you can contact our construction managers on 0208 923 3299 between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday. If you are calling outside office hours, please ring our Standby Supervisor on 0208 923 3299.
· Our Customer Centre is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 0845 641 0011. Please quote your address and reference number BB751174 if you call us.
· If you are interested in learning more about our investment programme, or the technical details of our work, visit our website at www.thameswater.co.uk/newpipes.


Thank you in advance for your patience and co-operation during this work.

Yours faithfully

Andrew Popple
Project Manager