East Meon residents benefiting from new water main

Residents of East Meon are reaping the rewards of a brand-new, £290,000 water pipe.

South East Water has finished work to replace more than 1.5 kilometres of ageing, burst-prone pipe which often caused supply interruptions in the Hampshire village – right on schedule.

Jeremy Dufour, South East Water Project Manager, said: “The old pipe would often burst, causing unnecessary disruption to the local community.

“Leaks and bursts do happen on our vast network of underground pipes – which spans more than 9,000 miles – but the rate this particular section of pipe was bursting was unacceptable to us.

“I’m really pleased our customers can now benefit from a new section of pipe which will significantly reduce the number of costly and disruptive water main bursts in the area.”

The new pipe was installed along Clanfield Road and a road closure has been in place since November 2021 to keep both the community and South East Water’s workforce safe.

The closure has now been lifted and the road has been restored to its original state.

Jeremy continued: “We know road closures are disruptive so we’re really sorry for any inconvenience our work may have caused.

“We worked really closely with the local community to keep disruption to an absolute minimum throughout the duration of the project.

“This scheme was short-term pain for long-term gain and I know the community will be grateful for the benefits of the new pipe.”

The project formed part of South East Water’s pledge to invest more than £433 million into improving its water network between 2020 and 2025.