Sewage misery for Pamber Heath residents (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Gardens flooded with sewage

5:00pm Friday 19th October 2012 in Local By Helen Morton

PAMBER Heath residents were left fuming after three manholes burst, covering gardens in foul-smelling sewage.

The flood of filth erupted around midnight on Saturday, October 6 and affected seven homes in Valley Way. But some are still waiting for the sewage to be fully cleared.

The manholes overflowed because of a blockage in sewage pipe owned by Thames Water.

Mike and Val Reynolds were among those affected. Their back garden and shed were flooded with sewage and on Monday, they were still waiting for the job to be finished, even though the company has already made several visits.

Mr Reynolds, 78, said: “We aren’t able to use our garden at all now and we don’t know yet how much damage has been done.”

The shed contained items including mowers, strimmers, a freezer containing food, a tumble dryer and many more electrical goods- all of which were covered in sewage and are likely to be unusable.

Mrs Reynolds, 72, said: “It’s absolutely disgusting. It’s their responsibility to clean it all up but they don’t seem to be taking it seriously.”

Their next-door neighbour, Alex Hafele, 62, had his garden flooded and his pond, which fortunately didn’t contain any fish, was left full of sewage. Mr Hafele, a retired civil servant, said: “It seems as if Thames Water are just doing everything they can to pass the buck. Nothing is being done fast enough.”

Craig Rance, press officer for Thames Water, said: “A blockage in the sewer network in Valley Way caused the sewage to back-up and overflow. “We are really sorry for the mess this caused and are looking into exactly why this happened. We had this cleared up as quickly as we could."