NEWBUILD homeowners have claimed they were forced to shower with bottled water for a week after their water supply was contaminated.
Workers brought in to newbuild estate Hartwell Park in Hartlepool, Teesside, have been digging up gardens to fix the water supply issues.
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Some 134 homes have been been running on a temporary water system, which sees pipes run above ground over gardens and driveways, for five months.
And the nightmare is not expected to end until September.
Jack Vickers, 28, was handed a “do not use” notice by the Independent Water Network (IWNL) in November, just months after moving into his new home.
It meant the water supply was not safe to drink, wash with or give to pets.
It took IWNL seven days to set up a temporary water supply, leaving residents with access only to bottled water, Jack claimed.
He told Teesside Live: “For a week you had to walk round to the corner of the site and collect bottles of water to drink with, to wash with, and whatever.”
Three-bed homes on the estate sell for an average of £200,000.
The company did offer residents hotel rooms to the value of £100-a-night, but Jack said this was “hardly convenient”.
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He added: “It was pretty shocking for a brand new estate. It’s the last thing you would ever expect.
“The only way you could effectively use the water was through toilet flushing – you couldn’t use it for any other reason.
“They wouldn’t stipulate what it was contaminated with, why or how it had been contaminated.”
Jack was originally sent a letter stating the water “may be contaminated”.
A further email read that boiling the water would “not clean, treat, purify or kill contaminants”.
Pipes are now running across gardens after a temporary water supply was hooked up to an outside network.
And workmen are destroying landscaping and driveways to fix the original system.
During the colder months the temporary pipes froze, Jack claimed.
Many homeowners then had to leave their taps running overnight to prevent this, he said.
“It wasn’t unusual for them to burst in the street either,” he added.
On Monday a 30ft “mountain of water” erupted from a burst pipe as IWNL met residents at Hart Village Hall, he claimed.
Yet Jack says no compensation has been offered.
Charlie Thackeray, IWNL’s water network director, said: “I empathise with many of the points Mr Vickers has raised and we are working hard to engage with residents to make the whole switching process as pain-free as possible.
“I’d like to emphasise that the temporary water supply is tested regularly and has passed all tests, something we take very seriously.
“We want to renew the network as efficiently as possible with the least disruption and get customers back to a conventional modern new service, something we pride ourselves on providing.”
The company has “waived all volumetric water charges for all residents, until their new supply is installed”.
A Bellway spokesperson said: “Bellway has been working closely with Independent water networks (IWN) and other stakeholders to investigate and rectify the water issue on the development.
“A freshwater supply has already been installed to provide water to all residents. Works are now well underway to return the water main below ground.”
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