Thousands of litres of water thought to be wasted as leak gushing from Hemel hotel is finally repaired

A burst water main on the grounds of a hotel in Hemel Hempstead has finally been repaired after months of complaints.

The water, according to concerned journalist Jon Danzig, was gushing some half a mile down the road from the Shendish Manor Hotel and Golf Course.

Mr Danzig claims he first reported the leak to the supplier Affinity Water in late February, and several times afterwards, before action was finally taken. Mr Danzig filmed and posted a video of the water, and sent it to The Gazette.

Affinity told The Gazette it had attempted to locate the leak twice using an electronic device before finally landing on the right spot which the company would excavate the very next day.

The source of the leak was tracked to a cast iron main, laid nearly 60 years ago, located underneath the entrance to the golf club’s reception.

The supplier explained the difficulty of the repair and apologised for any inconvenience.

A spokesperson said: “Regrettably, this was one of those instances where the water was visibly showing at a location some distance away from where the actual leak was located. It’s not at all uncommon for water to show up in a particular location that has no bearing to the actual location of the leak. Furthermore, this particular scenario was made all the more challenging due to the water emanating from the burst hitching a ride via the clay ducting located immediately adjacent to our water main.

"Affinity Water apologises for any inconvenience caused to its customers and thanks them for their patience while we located and attended to the leak."

Mr Danzig estimated the leak had wasted over 525,000 litres of water, based on the statistic from industry body Water UK, that a running tap releases around six litres of water per minute.

He said: “Drinking water is precious and hugely expensive to process. “And thousands of gallons of fresh drinking water gushing half-a-mile down a road, for at least two months, ends up in sewers, causing costly overflows, and damaging the environment. Such leaks also deplete our supplies of drinking water.

Ultimately, customers of Affinity will be paying for that.”

The water company said it was committed to halving leaks by 2050.

The spokesperson added: “We know the public care about water from leakage being wasted and so do we. We are confident that we are on track to deliver on our commitment to reduce leakage by 20 per cent by 2025. We will do this through continuing to use new innovative methods and technologies, such as artificial intelligence and digital networks, to find and fix leaks faster than ever before with the aim to reduce leakage by 50 per cent by 2050.

“Reducing leakage is incredibly important to us. It plays a key part in helping us to leave more water in the environment to help protect our regions globally rare chalk streams, whilst helping to provide a long-term sustainable supply of water.”

Any leaks and bursts can be reported via the company’s website.

The hotel did not respond to a request for comment from the Gazette.