Its happening again - sewage flowing down West Berkshire's streets
This week was to have seen the launch of a Thames Water project aimed at alleviating the perennial problem. Instead, the company has temporarily called off its engineers, deeming the current conditions at Lambourn “unsafe.”
Last year Thames Water deployed tankers to try to pump and ferry away excess water - an operation which cost £4.5 million across the region’s flooding hotspots including Lambourn, Burghclere and Woolton Hill.
Lambourn district councillor Graham Jones (Con) contacted Thames Water’s liaison officer Hilary Murgatroyd this week to report the situation.
And resident Doreen Snook said: “Raw sewage is pouring from the manhole and running down the road into the river.”
Her husband Peter said: “Sewage is spewing from the manhole in Newbury Street and running past Bodmin Close and in to the River Lambourn, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).”
Meanwhile local springs have reportedly risen earlier than usual this year.
Last January more than 150 people tried to cram into a public meeting in the Memorial Hall in Lambourn, where Thames Water operations director Bob Collington fielded a barrage of angry comments and questions.
Residents complained of raw effluent pouring down streets and into gardens, streams and rivers.
Some residents were afraid to flush their toilets or drain their sinks because it caused sewage to back up into their homes.
Earlier this month Thames Water announced major works to improve the sewer system in Lambourn were to begin this week. They will involve a ‘bypass’ - installing temporary pumping between manholes, relining the sewer and then removing the temporary pumping before returning the sewer to service.
However, Thames Water spokeswoman Becky Trotman said yesterday (Wednesday): “The work that our contractors will be doing in Lambourn in the coming weeks will help to alleviate this problem in the future, but they have had to put this on hold until the groundwater levels drop as its currently unsafe for them to work on the sewers.”
She added: “Unfortunately ground water levels in Lambourn are very high at the moment and this water is getting into our sewer network which is only meant to take waste water from homes and businesses. We have a team on site today checking the network and the pumping station as we know the area is a flooding hotspot.”
