Fears that Sheppey’s water supplies might be cut off again following a leak near the A249 at Bobbing have been dismissed.

Resident Nikki Clare reported the leak which had been flooding Rose Woods behind Gore Court cricket pitch, Sittingbourne. It is on the same main which burst in January 2016 and left the Island without water for weeks.

Engineers had to close off part of the A249 while they repaired the pipe as tankers shipped in water to refill Sheppey’s reservoirs. Bottles of water were handed out at Morrisons supermarket at Neats Court and distributed to the elderly and vulnerable.

Nikki, of Norwood Walk, said: “The supply pipe is leaking again. Water is bubbling up. We had to fight for the leak to be repaired five years ago. They never believed us when we said the water was coming from their main. It is a nightmare. We just get fobbed off.”

She says part of the pipe broke again last April and water still appears to be leaking over the rugby pitch next to Grove Park Primary School.

Southern Water’s spokesman Simon Fluendy said: “We are grateful to the customers who have made us aware of a small leak on the Sheppey trunk main on an access track adjacent to the cricket ground and near Grove Park School.

“Our initial excavation shortly after did not expose the leak but we’ve been using more advanced technology to try to pin-point it. Work had to pause following the snow and subsequent thaw last week. This weather phenomenon triggered a number of bursts on water mains directly feeding our communities and fixing these large leaks took priority.

“A team with specialist acoustic logging equipment has attended the area. We do not see any threat to supplies in the neighbourhood but every drop of water is precious and reports from the public help us to find bursts.

“This is especially true on smaller and rural pipes which our remotely monitored telemetry systems cannot always pick on.”

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