Guernsey Water has said “regrettably” work can’t start to fix this new problem, until current work in St Saviour’s is finished.
A spokesperson for the utility said the burst water main on Rue Marquand gives engineers the opportunity to upgrade the infrastructure there.
As the current pipe work was laid in the 1970s, it is just 300mm, but will be increased to 450mm to meet modern demands for water supplies when those engineers are able to get round to doing the work.
Operations Manager at Guernsey Water, Jon Holt said it makes sense to do that upgrade now that the main has burst.
In the immediate short term a temporary fix had been applied to the water main to ensure customers in the Forest Road area have ample supplies, but the road won’t be resurfaced until the full work has been completed which will be early next year.
“Although regrettably, we are unable to start works to replace the main in Rue Marquand until works at St Saviour’s are complete, our priority is to ensure security of water supply,” he explained.
“This main is a major water transfer route, feeding our treated water storage facility in Forest Road and customers in the southern parishes. Our teams have already carried out a temporary repair of a 15m section of the pipe. Unfortunately, with an additional 65m of road damaged by the burst, temporarily resurfacing the road would put additional strain on the pipework, which could result in another burst which would prove problematic with St Saviour’s remains offline.”
Rue Marquand is a lane between Route de St André and Forest Road, connecting the top of ‘Donkey Hill’ with Les Mourants Road.
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