Residents ‘furious’ after whole block left without water for 4 days

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents in a block couldn’t shower in their homes for four days after their taps stopped running.

Residents of Astoria Mansions in Streatham alerted Thames Water about the problem on Monday but were still without a single drop of water four days later on Thursday morning.

People had to resort to filling buckets of water from an outside tap and stockpiling bottles of water during the outage. Residents said they thought 15 flats in the block in Streatham High Road had lost water completely, while other apartments and local businesses suffered from low pressure.

Imran Khan, one of the affected residents, said he was furious Thames Water had taken so long to resolve the problem.

The 55-year-old said: “Thames Water have been very bad. The reason I am angry is they didn’t listen to us when they should have.

“There’s a tap outside and I am having to fill up buckets. We are buying bottles and everybody has been leaving the block to have showers. It’s extremely difficult not washing and not flushing the toilet.”

Mr Khan said flats in the block had lost water three times in recent years in similar circumstances and as a long-term resident of Astoria Mansions he asked Thames Water to ring him so he could explain the issues.

Instead he claimed Thames Water sent engineers to repair a problem in the wrong location on Monday.

Then when residents continued to complain of having no water, he claims Thames Water initially refused to come back and blamed the building’s managing agency for the problem.

Thames Water confirmed engineers repaired a leak near the building on Monday, before returning on Thursday after receiving further reports of no water from residents. Bottled water was also delivered to residents on Thursday, Thames Water said.

In an email from Wednesday, another resident of Astoria Mansions said Thames Water and the building’s management company were engaged in a blame game about the problem.

They wrote: “We are currently at a standstill as both company’s refuse to come out without the other one present, both insisting they cannot get a hold of the other.

“Meanwhile, us residents are powerless and some are in dire conditions. Two of our flats house vulnerable people who cannot leave the house and have been without even the use of a toilet since Monday morning.”

Below the flats at Life Cafe, owner Sedal Yen said the business had been without normal water pressure since the beginning of the week.

The 31-year-old said: “We need lots of water to do the washing. We haven’t stopped the business because we still have water but it has been hard.”

Staff at Blackbird Bakery a few doors down said their water pressure was so low they had had to shut their toilet to customers.

A Thames Water spokesman said: “We received reports of no water at Astoria Mansion along Streatham High Road on Monday 30 October. Our engineers attended the same day and repaired a leak by the building.

“Following additional reports of no water, engineers again returned to the site today where they identified a broken valve. This is expected to be repaired later this evening. Bottled water has now been dropped off to residents and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused during this time.”

Pictured top: Residents of Astoria Mansions in Streatham were without water for four days (Picture: Robert Firth)