Homeowner rejects ‘threat’ over water leak
A DUNEDIN property owner disputing his need to pay for a plumber to repair a leaking water toby says a ‘‘threatening’’ letter from the Dunedin City Council will not change his mind.
Sam Sharpe has been trying to get the council to fix the leaking toby outside his home in Langham Tce, Northeast Valley, for a month, but the council has refused, saying it is his responsibility.
This week, Mr Sharpe said he and his neighbours had all received a ‘‘threatening’’ letter from the council, warning them a water restriction device could be installed if the leak was not fixed by October 26.
Mr Sharpe said the council appeared to be trying to turn his neighbours against him by including them in the mail drop.
‘‘I think it’s pretty meanspirited,’’ he said.
One neighbour was overseas, while a second had already urged him to continue his protest. He was yet to speak to the third — a family with a young child.
Despite that, he would be ‘‘sticking to my guns’’ for now, he said.
The toby — a type of water shutoff valve between private water pipes and councilowned mains — is on a private pipe connecting the city’s water supply to Mr Sharpe’s home.
But the toby was under a private rightofway not owned by him or any of the other residents, and which the council now considered to be abandoned land.
Mr Sharpe believed the cost of the simple repair job should be covered by his rates, especially as the council would have to send out a contractor anyway, to shut off the water for the plumber.
A council spokeswoman did not answer questions from the Otago Daily Times, saying instead the letter was ‘‘our standard response’’ and in line with the council’s water bylaw.
Council 3 Waters group manager Tom Dyer, speaking last week, said the toby was owned by Mr Sharpe ‘‘even though it’s not on his property’’, and the council was ‘‘not responsible for work on private infrastructure’’.
The letter from the council said the toby was on the private water service supplying four homes, including Mr Sharpe’s, and it was ‘‘an issue that needs to be attended to’’ by the residents.
‘‘You may need to engage a plumber to carry out this work,’’ it said.