THE source of the water leak on Staplers Road has still not been confirmed — although Southern Water insisted it was not a burst pipe.

Last week, the company sent specialists to listen to the pipes at nighttime however, the samples taken did not show the water to be drinking water coming from a burst pipe.

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: "We believe that it could be water from nearby natural springs being carried by a redundant gas pipe."

Now engineers will dig down into the gas main and send a camera up the pipe with the view to diverting the flow into a surface drain.

The spokesperson said: "We’re aware that it looks unsightly and after all the works in the area we certainly feel we owe the community a debt of gratitude.

"We hope we can do this without creating more traffic disruption."

The road has already seen three-months of travel disruption this year, and was closed while Southern Water and Clancy Docwra replaced 500 metres of ageing water mains.

However, the work was not finished on time and the road could be closed again in the autumn.