Severn Trent faces frustrated residents from Mansfield and Ashfield after water shortages

Hundreds of households were left without water for several days in the districts on the hottest day of the year last month, with some facing further shortages just ten days later, and residents have now met with the water company to air their views.

Shortages were caused by equipment failure at the firm’s groundwater site, but residents complained about both communication from the company and the failure to provide sufficient bottled water to affected residents.

During the meeting, which was organised by Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, residents criticised the fact that some on the company’s vulnerable list were not contacted, with volunteers from around the area, including local councillors and residents stepping in – but Severn Trent sought to reassure residents that feedback had been taken on board and measures had been put in place to ensure the situation improved.

One resident said: “You’ve said that you’re going to use what’s just happened as an exercise to ensure it doesn’t happen again, but how long will that take?

"You’ve also said in your statements that you sympathise with the situation, but have you ever had two days of no water at all?

"Have you been to work, sweating all day, then come home and not been able to have a shower?.”

In response, James Jesic said: “Where we are now in relation to the last issue we faced, we are absolutely not in the same position again.

"Those assets have now been sorted and are in full working order.

"We have also increased the capabilities of the amount of water we can inject directly into the network, should further issues occur."

Lee Anderson said of the meeting: “For these issues with the water supply to happen once at a time of high demand, you can perhaps understand if not forgive it.

"For it happen to my constituents twice in less than a year is inexcusable.

"I will always fight for my constituents and will be pressuring Severn Trent to ensure that they deliver on their promise of substantial investment in Ashfield, to improve the local water infrastructure, and to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We are always happy to engage with our customers and were delighted to be invited to attend and speak at the public meeting.

"It gave us the opportunity to meet with and listen to our customers in Ashfield, to explain the issues experienced on July 18 and 19 and to reassure them that we have lots of measures in place to help mitigate these in the future.

"As well as attending the meeting, our community team were in Kirkby, Huthwaite and Sutton, speaking to customers about all of our services and the wider community support we provide.

"For those not able to attend or view the meeting, we’d like to assure you that the equipment issues have all been resolved; we’re increasing resource availability in the local area and continue to invest in and improve our network resilience.

"Finally, we would once again like to apologise to any customers in the area who experienced issues with their water supply.”

Support your Chad by becoming a digital subscriber.

You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience.

Click here to subscribe.