A Haslemere resident has hit out at the service Thames Water is providing for the town.
Michael Edwards has sent a letter to the Herald detailing his concerns, which include a lack of investment at the Blackdown reservoir.
He said: “Why doesn’t Thames Water spend some of their profit to increase the capacity of the Blackdown reservoirs – or at least refurbish the one half of the reservoir which is presently unused?
“It is quite shameful that Thames can waste our money to haul water, which is polluting and helping to make Chase Lane’s surface even more potholed and damaged, when half of the reservoir is unused, requiring work to get it back into use.”
Mr Edwards also fears that water problems will increase in the town with the new housing developments such as Red Court in Scotland Lane.
He said: “Water supplies in the Haslemere area need to be sufficient for today’s population and to allow for the large growth in water usage when the various developments, such as Red Court, and others, are completed.
“Red Court has been a red rag for a lot of Haslemere residents. Scotland Lane is a narrow road, and there will be a lot more cars and more pressure on the water system.
“The government want more houses to be built in the town, but we need the infrastructure to go with that. Unless the water infrastructure in the town is improved, we are going to face more problems.”
Mr Edwards’ complaints came just days after Ofwat named Thames Water as one of the worst performing water companies in the country.
Waverley Borough Councillor for Haslemere East and Grayswood Robert Knowles was not surprised by Ofwat’s verdict on Thames Water.
“It comes as no surprise,” said Cllr Knowles.
“Haslemere has suffered several times over recent years from loss of supply in summer months, yet Thames still make no objection for large planning applications in their supply area of Haslemere.
“Promises of jam tomorrow with no dates for improvement in no way guarantee supply.”
In response, a Thames Water spokesperson said: “The Thames Tideway Tunnel is the third phase of a comprehensive environmental improvement programme of the tidal Thames for Thames Water customers and river users.
“The cost of the project is being paid for by Thames Water’s 15 million wastewater customers through their bills.
“We’ll continue to work as efficiently as we can, keeping our customers’ wastewater bills as low as possible.
“Spreading the costs of a big investment project like the Thames Tideway Tunnel is widely seen as a fair approach and is standard practice.
“While we recognise there is a long way to go to turn around our performance, we’re making progress and we’ll continue to engage and work with Ofwat as we implement our eight-year turnaround plan.
“Our customers expect a great service from us every time, and we’re sorry when we fail to deliver at the first opportunity.
“We know our current performance isn’t where it needs to be for our customers and we’re determined to do better.”