RESIDENTS at retirement flats in Bournemouth have been left without running water for more than four days.

Residents living in the Restharrow block of flats in Lansdowne Gardens cannot shower or flush the toilet and only have access to bottled drinking water.

Some of the residents are bedbound and have long term health conditions.

They claim property managers are not communicating the issues or how long it will take to resolve.

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What the residents are saying

Resident John McCoy said: “At 6.00am on Saturday morning, we had no water, so we called the water board here and they said it wasn't their problem, it was an internal problem inside the building.

"The development manager did turn up eventually at about 3.30pm. I went out for the day and when I got back at about 9pm I said okay what's happening and I was told it's in hand we’re dealing with it.

"And I said I’m sorry I want to know what the problem is, what you’re doing to resolve it and what you’re doing for the residents. And the area manager said 'John , we've got bottled water coming in now'.

"Since then we haven't had much more information about what's happening apart from two very vague letters.

"The main point is how are they going to resolve it, we’re four days in and they’ve only today started digging a trench.

"There are lots of people in dire straits in this building who are very ill at the moment and I’ve just looked in reception and there’s only five bottles there at the moment, there's 67 flats here and there’s at least 63 residents who live here, that’s a swig each.

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"We’re being told it could take another two to three days and some residents haven’t flushed their toilet or had a shower since Saturday.

"There’s at least 10 people here who don't have the capacity to go downstairs and get water. We just need some help to get this problem resolved but also to make FirstPort who manage the property accountable."

Repairs

Southern Drainage and Water representative Ryan Tottle, said: “It’s basically a burst water main between the stopcock and the building so it’s a trace and find scenario where we’re trying to find out where it is.

"This is why we’re digging at the moment, the last thing we want to be doing is digging because it takes time and its costly but we’ve got to trace the pipe until we find the burst so it’s a case of bearing with it.

“We’re just investigating at the moment to find out where it is and as soon as we’ve found it we can repair it. It could potentially be under the building. I hope to be done within the next couple of days.”

What next?

When asked whether there is a plan in place for residents if the leak is under the building, development manager Susan Phillips, who is also a Conservative BCP councillor said the plan is to get more bottled water.

Residents will also be without power all day on Thursday as electric company SSE are coming to do repairs.

Ms Phillips said: “Eight years ago there was a T-junction in the ground and due to the bad weather last week, the water has weakened it again so they've got the electricity back up.

"There will be a power outage for the whole building on Thursday and they won't be bringing in a generator but I hope they’ll fix it.”