South West Water has responded after North Cornwall’s MP called St Eval water shortages “a complete disgrace”.  

Ben Maguire, Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, has said that South West Water’s handling of water shortage issues in and around St Eval, near Padstow, has been “a complete disgrace” as he demands action and compensation for villagers. 

Mr Maguire says residents in and around the village of St Eval have told him of their frustration as they have been having problems with a lack of consistent water supply for over a week – with some local people having been told it could take another week for normal service to be resumed. 

South West Water have told residents that the issues are due to works being undertaken at the Bears Down reservoir and increased demand during periods of hot weather, with tankers being deployed to serve the area. However, local people say not enough tankers were sent to meet demand, meaning they are still being left without water for long periods of the day. 

The MP has also been told by St Eval residents that they have not been given regular updates, a date when they can expect to be back to normal or enough bottled water during outages, with some being told that they won’t be eligible for any compensation caused during the disruption. 

Commenting, Mr Maguire said: “This situation is a complete disgrace. Local people haven’t been able to rely on a proper water supply for days now, businesses are suffering and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. 

“To add insult to injury, local people tell me that communication has been very poor and no guarantees have been given about compensation for bill payers for the ongoing disruption. South West Water don’t seem to have learned anything from the Brixham scandal earlier in the year. 

“I’m calling on South West Water to get a grip, make sure everyone has access to a reasonable water supply in the interim and speed up getting this sorted once and for all so people can rely on water coming out when they turn on the taps. Once normal service has resumed, residents in St Eval are rightly demanding a decent, full compensation package for being left without water for days and days.” 

When approached for comment, David Harris, from South West Water said: “We are carrying out essential maintenance to the Bears Down service reservoir near Newquay which did cause some intermittent supply issues for which we are sorry. We have put tankers in place around the network which has now minimised impact to customers, businesses and visitors. We are working around the clock to complete the necessary work and will return supply to normal as soon as possible.”