Frustrated residents claim an ongoing water leak has only worsened despite engineers’ attempts to fix it.

Those living in Tavistock Close, Walderslade Woods, said they first reported the issue when it was only a “trickle” but nine months later say it is like having a “river” outside their homes.

Iris Moore and her neighbour Anne contacted South East Water in September after they noticed the water had been seeping from a crack in the road for a few weeks.

The pair then reported it again in January as it had frozen and become a sheet of ice which Iris slipped on.

A few days later, engineers from the utility firm came and gritted the area and then returned in late March and dug a hole to inspect it further.

This has been resurfaced, however, Iris said the leak has continued to grow and “gallons” of water is running into the nearby drain every day.

The 80-year-old added: “It is just a mess and now there is even more water than before they started.

“It is running all the time. It is like a river some days and we even had our own swimming pool for a while.

“If it rains heavy the drain does not cope and it is like a stream running down here.

“We get all this advice about saving water but they are wasting gallons. It is a complete waste.

“No wonder our water bills are going up when they are wasting it like this.”

Her neighbour Anne added: “It is worse than before they came to fix it and we have just been left with a problem we cannot do anything about.

“It was just a trickle but it was constant. We only want it sorted.”

South East Water’s regional network manager Andy Beston said the firm was making attempts to fix the burst pipe and was waiting for permission to restart work.

He added: “These series of leaks have proved to be particularly difficult to locate and challenging to repair due to a number of reasons which have hampered progress.

“We are working with the local highways team to schedule a date to complete the final repair to the section of the water main that has suffered from these bursts over the past few months.

“We understand that seeing water lost to leaks can be frustrating and we want to assure you that fixing leaks is a top priority for us.

“Our network of pipework spans 9,000 miles with six million joints, and sometimes, things can split or burst.”

South East Water is a drinking water-only company meaning the leak is coming from a clean water mains.