2 days ago
Residents 'depressed' by 70 days of sewage works in Pamber Heath
A woman who has had sewage pumped out of her back garden for the last 70 days is asking for compensation from a water Water has been conducting sewer repair work outside the home of Melissa Stroud, in Oakfield Road in Pamber Heath, Stroud, who has not been able to open her windows due to the smell, said the tankers pumped 50,000 litres of sewage from the drain in her garden "every single day, several times a day".Thames Water apologised and said it was committed to progressing repairs "as quickly and safely as possible".
Mrs Stroud said she felt like there was "no end in sight"."They're just doing their job and I'm grateful for that but the disruption to our day to day life is just horrible," she said on Saturday, work was ongoing for almost seven and a half hours with the engines running, "pumping fumes from sewage and diesel" directly into her tankers "come and go all hours of the day and night" making a "terrible noise" and making it difficult to leave their home," Mrs Stroud also said Thames Water had not provided any formal communication with her since the start of July."We are not the priority," she Stroud is calling for the water firm to provide regular updates on the work and to "acknowledge and compensate the severe disruption to life".
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Liberal Democrat Councillor for Tadley and Pamber Jo Slimin described the smell as "dreadful".She said: "No resident should ever be placed in this situation, it's hot and obviously it's really, really bad."Thames Water could do an awful lot better."We're talking about a national organisation that's currently struggling with funding but it's not an excuse for poor customer service, not an excuse for not responding to people."
A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We sincerely apologise for the disruption being caused by our sewer repair work in Oakfield Road. "The repairs have proven more complex than initially anticipated due to the ground conditions, proximity to properties and the depth of the sewer. "The situation is currently under review to determine the best way forward."To protect our customers and minimise the risk of flooding, we are using tankers to carefully manage wastewater flows during this time."
You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
