Residents say they want compensation for 18 water outages in just over a year
CHILDREN have been sent home from a primary school for the third time in two months due to persistent water outages in Lisvane.
Llysfaen Primary School was forced to shut its doors yesterday (March 13) after parts of the area were left without water for the eighteenth time in just over a year.
This particular outage was caused when Wales and West Utilities workers maintaining gas pipes in the area accidentally struck a water pipe.
Two Welsh Water lorries, carrying 2,500 litres of drinking water each, were deployed while work was carried out to fix the issue.
But, regardless of the reason, the latest incident highlights the scale of the problem for the people of Lisvane.
Since January 2024, there have been 18 water outages according to resident Mark Hallett, who is calling for compensation from Welsh Water.
“They (Welsh Water) maintain that they are not liable to pay any compensation because the interruptions have been for less than 12 hours,” he said.
“There apparently is no limit on the number of interruptions that we have to endure before they provide a rebate.
“The truth is that they have failed to invest in the basic infrastructure for decades.”
Welsh Water announced last month that household customers’ bills will rise by 27% for 2025-26, from £503 to £639.
Sally Thomas, who lives close to the school on Mill Road, believes that the issue could also be caused by the recent surge in housing developments in the north of Lisvane.
“I think the increased building work is putting too much pressure on the pipes,” she said.
“Many of them are old and only used to run up to old Lisvane.
“It’s been a real problem for the past six to twelve months. It happens a couple of times every two or three weeks and Welsh Water don’t give us any reason as to why.”
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This view is shared by an elderly resident who lives next to the school and wished to remain anonymous.
“We have had the roads being dug up for all sorts of reasons recently, but I actually wonder whether it’s the actual water infrastructure that can’t cope with all the buildings going up around here,” she said.
Two major housing developments have been given the green light in Lisvane in recent years, including developer Redrow’s recently-granted planning permission to begin work on 200 new homes at Church Farm.
The Cardiffian approached Redrow for comment but the company is yet to respond.
These issues come less than two years after Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs, owned by Welsh Water, were brought back into operational use.
‘We lose a lot of customers’
Wales and West Utilities confirmed it was the cause of yesterday’s problem, saying: “We are working in the Heol St Denys area of Lisvane to upgrade the gas network.
“Yesterday (March 13) while we were working, a water pipe in the area was damaged causing a temporary loss of water pressure. Our colleagues from Welsh Water attended and together, we resolved the issue quickly that afternoon.
“We’re sorry for any disruption this might have caused.”
A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “Following damage to our main by a third party yesterday morning some properties in the Lisvane area had interrupted supplies.
“Our crews were on site promptly and despite some challenging aspects to the repair, everyone was back on supply by mid-afternoon.”
But, whatever the reason, persistently being left without water is having a big impact on residents and businesses.
H20 hair studio, run by Rebecca Blakely, had to close yesterday because of the outage.
“It’s fifth time in a month and a half that we have had to shut,” said salon worker Lisa.
“Welsh Water don’t tell us why, but we end up losing a lot of clients.”
