Much of my time over the past four days or so has been taken up with the issue of Severn Trent’s failure to maintain water supplies in our area.

Severn Trent’s response to the problem hasn’t been helpful. Many residents have told me it’s almost as if Severn Trent are blaming them for the problem. They are being bombarded with messages on TV, social media and phones from the large PLC company which to them have seemed to shift responsibility for the low pressure and supply failures solely onto excessive use.

Having a plentiful supply of clean water is of paramount importance for everyone’s health and safety during this COVID-19 emergency. Over the past four days or so people across north Willenhall in common with neighbouring Essington and Wednesfield have had to put up with low pressure and no supply on numerous occasions. As a result I have asked for this matter to be investigated in order to establish the root cause of the problem.

I am also asking for reports to go the next Scrutiny Committee to establish why customers of Severn Trent Water are more susceptible to interruptions in their water supplies than those in other parts of Walsall served by another provider, namely South Staffs Water. This will give some transparency to the problems and give Severn Trent the opportunity to share with its customers plans to ensure this sort of situation becomes the exception rather than the rule.

In defence of Severn Trent they have had to meet the challenge of high demand during a period where we have enjoyed the driest May on record. Having said that there were recent reports from water companies saying that reservoirs were over 80% full.

To make matters worse there have been mixed messages coming from Severn Trent Water about the cause and extent of the problem. These have ranged from there being a failure at a booster station supplying our are through air-locks in the system to simply just not being able to process sufficient water to meet demand.

There might be some sympathy for Severn Trent if everyone was suffering from the same issues, but that’s not the case. To the east of the M6 in neighbouring Bloxwich and indeed for much of the rest of Walsall, there were no such problems. Customers there are served by South Staffs Water and to my knowledge they have enjoyed uninterrupted clean water.

Many residents have said that there is a history of problems with Severn Trent. Councillors in Essington have said that their area has seen little investment in infrastructure by Severn Trent in spite of there being many new homes built in the area

Hopefully some good will come from bringing this debate out into the open.