I met with Rhodri Edwards – who is Allotments Officer’s line manager under Parks – today on site.
To recap, there is a serious underground water leak somewhere in the southeast segment of the site, that is, between the mid-point stopcock (at the junction of Road Three and the long track), and the main stopcock at the southwest of the site. It’s losing over a cubic metre of water per hour, which equates to a rate of about £17,500 worth of water a year.
A project manager and contractor have been engaged, and the purpose of today’s visit was to assist in the decision as to the best of the several options to resolve the problem. I proposed a conservative one, which would minimise cost and disruption, while making future leak tracing much easier, and also reducing the likelihood of their happening again. Whether that would be chosen or not remains to be seen, however.
Rhodri said that work should begin within the next week or two. However, given the cost and seriousness of the leak he said that the Council would very much encourage us to turn the water off overnight. I explained that this had been tried before, though with the limited volunteer effort available meaning that it was turned on at 1000 and off at around 1400, but that this had led to resentment among those who attend before or after work and who found the troughs empty, with opprobrium being attached to the unpaid volunteers.
So a main aim of this article is to see if there are people who often attend before work – who’d be willing to turn on the water early in the morning – and others who come after work, and who’d be prepared to turn it off when they leave, ideally giving the water on from say 0700 – 2030 or so. It could also be turned off during spells of wet weather (if we get any.) A group could be set up, to arrange and to share this between themselves, if there were enough offers. Please contact PPAA Committee if you might be able to help.
Martin P. (Volunteer)
