A NEW water main installation in and near Upper Hale Road was due to begin this week, not long since Folly Hill residents were left with water shortages and a lack of water pressure for around 11 days.

South East Water (SEW) were due to begin the £390,000 project to install a new 842-metre pipeline yesterday (Monday), originally planned to be carried last October, with works due to take approximately 30 weeks to complete.

The investment is needed to improve the capacity of the local water network in order to supply drinking water to the new Wellesley housing development at the old Aldershot Barracks site.

Temporary traffic lights will be in use between the junctions of Trinity Hill and Sandy Hill Road until September 14, followed by construction in private land until November 19.

The final phase will involve temporary traffic light control between the junctions of Folly Hill and Old Park Lane from November 19 until January 21.

It comes after residents experienced water outages during the recent heatwave. Marie O’Donnell and her husband, who live in Folly Lane North, endured shortages almost everyday from June 24 to July 1, and then again from July 6 to July 8. Problems were reported from around 7.30pm to 10pm, with several also noted in the morning.

Steve Andrews, SEW’s head of central operations, said: “The new water main is on a different part of our network to Folly Hill, however the new main does improve the capacity in our network and can allow more water to be re-zoned if there are further localised issues.”

For more information, visit corporate.southeastwater.co.uk/hale.