Slow Sheffield Council repair nearly wastes ‘mind boggling’ 30,000 litres of water during drought

It happened as local authorities across the country made plans for hose pipe bans amid another heatwave which has contributed to drought across Europe.

Gary Jenkinson-Graham, who lives in Shirecliffe, said he was astonished when he found the leak filled 22 litre bucket in less than half an hour.

He said: “It was stressing me out because I could see literally buckets of water going away all the time.”

Mr Jenkinson-Graham said leak repairs took seven to 10 days to be fixed in the past but he was initially told to wait more than three weeks. He said that would have wasted in the region of 30,000 litres in total.

The repair – which only took 10 to 15 minutes to make – was moved forward to yesterday after councillor Paul Turpin, representative for Gleadless Valley ward, got involved. This made the wait 11 days in total.

“I can’t imagine I’m the only person on [the housing repairs] list with a leaking tap,” he added. “I’m just glad it was done because the idea of losing that amount of water was just really doing my head in.

“I’ve lived here about 13 or 14 years now and in the past it was generally much quicker, it was very good. Recently it has not been so good at all, it’s a lot slower.”

This was the sixth or seventh mixer taps Mr Jenkinson-Graham has had in just six years due to them failing and leaking.

The housing repairs is still facing a backlog of more than 6,000 overdue repairs, yet the council is planning to cut it by £5 million in the coming budget.

Councillor Turpin said: “Council housing in Sheffield has not had enough investment over the decades and it is often in need of repairs. But instead of tinkering and making repairs that don't last, a full plan to upgrade our housing stock is essential to provide safe warm homes and to reduce the carbon footprint in order to meet our carbon zero target of 2030.”

Sheffield Council was contacted for comment.