Residents in Old Liverton, responding to the Environment Agency's call in last week's Mid-Devon Advertiser to avoid wasting water, are questioning South West Water's own commitment to the task.
Tony Crane first drew attention to a major leak in the Old Liverton Road, which runs through the heart of the village.
'I returned from holiday on July 26 and noticed that there was a leak. There was water running along the road and now it's started to break up the tarmac.'
Neighbour Donald Gayton confirmed the problem and that to his knowledge it had been reported some time ago.
Jacqui Docksey, of 9 Telegraph View, who lives directly opposite the leak, said the problem was first spotted as much as three months ago and reported to South West Water.
She added that several repair attempts had failed – including one on July 16 which commenced at 11.15pm and continued until the early hours, much to the locals' annoyance.
'One of my neighbours went out to have a word with the workmen as it was so late but they said it had been reported as an emergency and they had to attend to it.'
Dina Chandler, spokesman for SWW, told the Advertiser that the company was fully aware of the leak, which had proved difficult to cure due to the amount of corrosion in the main pipe.
'We have in excess of 10,000 miles of piping to look after and unfortunately we can't always fix them as soon as our customers would like.'
Referring to the late night works in July, Miss Chandler added that as the work involved the whole road it had been necessary to do the work at night to cause the minimum traffic disruption.
She added that they expected the complete renewal of the pipe to happen 'within a week or so' and that closure of the road would not be necessary.
She promised the residents that disruption to supplies should last 'around half an hour' and that the water supplied until then was safe to drink even if pressures dropped as a result of the leak.