Residents in Aldbourne have spoken of their disgust at raw sewage flowing through their village. Thames Water has been contacted regarding the problem and has initially said that their sewer system in some regional areas was unable to cope with the amount of rainwater expected to be taken away by the drains.
An Aldbourne resident Michael Cowan said that the roads were “disgusting”. Thames Water has been sending drainage lorries to the problem to try to pump the sewage away.
Mr Cowan said:
“There’s loo paper and various other things there. They’re meant to be clearing all this every other day but they haven’t been.
“We are lucky we [live] just that few yards further down [from the overflowing drain], but you can smell it obviously all over the village.”
Thames water responded:
“While our sewer network in Aldbourne is working as it should, it is struggling with the sheer volume of water going through it after England’s wettest year on record.
“The ground is already sodden, so flood water is running across the surface and into our sewers, which are designed to take waste water from homes and businesses, not rivers too.
“We are currently using tankers to take away sewage from the centre of Aldbourne while focusing our efforts to help protect people from internal flooding.”