A new apartment block in Kingston was left without water over the weekend and residents say they feel "ignored" by Kingston Council regarding the matter.

An entire block at Cumberland House saw its water shut off by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) on Friday afternoon (10 July), leaving residents without water during the weekend's heatwave.

One tenant, who was moved into the new building after living in "unsafe" council housing for nine years told Nub News: "The council have ignored all calls from tenants and gave no warning or advice.

Late last night (Friday), they had Tesco deliver two litres of water to each flat!

It's a heatwave. We can't wash, wash up, do laundry, flush toilets etc. There are several elderly and disabled tenants. The council have known about the leak since Monday morning and have done nothing.

"They've refused emergency works, leaving 42 flats/families with no water. My husband and I are doing shop runs for water for all the vulnerable tenants.

"Many tenants do not understand what's happening due to not speaking full English. Our own daughter is disabled and we can't even bathe her."



The water was turned back on at around 3pm yesterday (Sunday, 12 July).

A Kingston Council spokesperson told Nub News: "Following the report of a water leak on Friday night, the London Fire Brigade attended Cumberland House.

"To manage any risk, LFB shut down the water supply which meant some properties in the block were left without water.

"The system is connected to the fire alarms and sprinklers and needed a full reset to ensure all sensors and systems were working correctly. Water supply was restored on Sunday afternoon.

"Council staff and contractors attended Cumberland House throughout the weekend. Supplies of cold water were delivered to residents and temporary facilities were made available.

"Work is ongoing to fix the original leak and we will be reviewing the incident thoroughly."

However, the resident says that they did not see any council staff or contractors on site throughout the weekend.

We want to provide Kingston with more and more clickbait-free local news. To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following. Help us survive and sign up for our free weekly newsletter by clicking the link HERE.