A drain that has been causing problems for five years has finally been fixed by Thames Water. The drain, which is located under a busy high street in Hendon regularly sent sewer water flooding down the road at times of heavy rainfall.
Although there have been numerous investigations into why the sewer flooding has happened Thames Water had no success locating the source of the problem until now. Traders in Church Road, which is adjacent to where the flooding occurs, have spoken of their disappointment about the length of time taken to rectify the problem.
During the worst bouts of flooding the smell created by the overflowing sewer turned customers away from trader’s shops and stopped people walking down the road due to the amount of water running over the road surface.
Drainage engineers last attended the problem in July when Barnet council also became involved in the investigations. A Thames Water spokesperson commented before the sewer was repaired:
“We are working with Barnet Council to try and get this issue resolved as soon as possible. We believe there may be a blockage in the sewer which is causing the drains to overflow…”
Drainage engineers finally decided to investigate further last week and dug a large hole in the road adjacent to the Times Series offices to replace a section of damaged sewer pipe.