A HEFTY water bill for allotments in Reading that are tended to by gardeners has rocketed by a massive 2,600 per cent due to a persistent leaking pipe.
The Waterloo Meadows allotments, off Elgar Road South, are used by gardeners who grow plants, vegetables, and fruits from the plots. The plants require a water supply to survive and bear fruit.
But there have been complaints that allotment holders have been left without water on the site which is managed by Reading Borough Council.
The issue has been exposed by opposition councillors from the Green Party, who discovered the water bill from the allotments had soared from £14,000 to £54,000 in the past year.
Reading Borough councillor Louise Keane (Green, Katesgove) said: “We have been contacted by frustrated plot holders who have been without water for months.
“The water bill for this site has increased massively since 2021/22 when the bill was only £2,000. In 2022/23 it increased steeply to £14,000 and in 2023/24 it was a whopping £54,000.
“The council has informed us that this massively increased water bill was caused by a leak which Thames Water says is on the council’s pipework.
“A water bowser was provided by the council to help plot holders with the watering of fruit and vegetables but it often ran out of water within a day.”
The councillor added: “We are concerned that the water bill could increase so substantially without the council’s finance team noticing last year, and that plot holders have been left without water for so long.
“We need the Labour council to take notice and take action when £50,000 worth of water drains away.”
A Reading Borough Council spokesperson confirmed that the leaking pipe was the authority’s responsibility. However, it was unable to identify the leak, leading council staff to replace the nearly 200-metre-long pipe.
The spokesperson said: “The certainty of a leak only became apparent when the meter was read and the statement was sent to the council.
“Immediate action was then taken to turn off the water supply and this spring a water bowser for allotment holders was provided for their use while the cause of the large bill was investigated and supply responsibilities were confirmed with Thames Water.”
The spokesperson then apologised to allotment holders for cases when the bowser ran short of water, but said officers made sure it was topped up as quickly as possible.
The spokesperson continued: “The council extends its thanks to those who were diligent in contacting us when there were issues with the topping up of the water supply. As testing proved to be futile, the only possibility left was to replace the entire pipe.
“The water bill will be paid out of the existing StreetScene budget.
“Whilst it is never desirable to receive such bills, the budget has a modest built-in resiliency to absorb the impact of unexpected events such as infrastructure failures in a town with a significant aging and Victorian built environment throughout.
“We know this has been challenging for the allotment holders at Waterloo Meadows and extend our apologies to them for the inconvenience. We will be reaching out to the Allotment Society further once the works are completed.”
The spokesperson added that the council will review its processes and challenge the way Thames Water reports to customers to help identify such issues sooner in the future.
