The council’s contractor has spent years struggling to fix the problem
By Victoria Munro

The Hashems' sink regularly overflows with other tenants' dirty water (credit: Abdul Hashem) — The Hashems’ sink regularly overflows with other tenants’ dirty water (credit: Abdul Hashem)

Filthy water regularly floods a family of six’s Leytonstone flat due to a “blocked pipe” Waltham Forest Council has spent years struggling to fix.

Abdul Hashem, 42, who lives in John Walsh tower in Montague Road with his wife and four children, says the problem has been ongoing ever since they moved in during 2016.

During mornings, evenings and weekends – when other residents are likely to be washing – dirty water fills his kitchen sink and runs over the floor.

Abdul says the council’s repairs contractor took “four or five years” to discover the source of the problem, a “blocked main pipe”, but still has yet to fix it.

The sink overflowing with filthy water (credit: Abdul Hashem)

Abdul told the Echo: “This dirty water is going over my pots, pans and plates. From a hygiene perspective, it’s not right.

“When you enter the flat, it smells terrible inside and my five-year-old is very ill so I worry about him catching an infection from the water.

“We’re council tenants and when we came here in 2016, it was not too much water, just a little bit, but over Christmas time it was very bad.

“I would come downstairs in the morning and the sink would be full of water, it was coming every morning and evening. When other tenants washed, then it would happen.

“On Friday (29th October), it was also happening very badly. It flooded three times in one day. Sometimes we just can’t manage.”

Abdul worries how the problem affects his childrens’ health (credit: Abdul Hashem)

Abdul’s family lives in a two-bedroom flat in the tower, which he adds is also “not suitable” for the size of his family.

Responding last week, the council’s cabinet member for housing Louise Mitchell said the council “apologise[s] to Mr Hashem for the problems he has experienced”.

She added: “We carried out remedial work at the property earlier this year and believed we had identified the problem and had fixed it.

“Unfortunately the problem continued and we had to carry out further investigations. Work has now begun to fix the fault and is scheduled to be completed within a fortnight.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.