Lee Telling and her partner are now forced to live upstairs

She has been forced to move upstairs after more than 200 floods in six years.

Mrs Telling says the problem is caused by a 30-year-old pumping station's inability to cope with a growing community.

Severn Trent Water has installed a device to prevent flooding in her home, but says a long-term answer will need a lot of planning.

The floods have wrecked Mrs Telling's holiday cottage business and left her �120,000 in debt.

The sewage is still blowing the tops off manhole covers and pouring across the garden Lee Telling

Mrs Telling says her 265-year-old Welsh long house is now worthless but she is not alone.

It is estimated that up to 20,000 homes across the UK are affected.

The House of Lords has ruled that it is for the director general of the water industry regulator Ofwat to ensure water companies fulfil their obligations.

"The pumping station is not coping with the amount of houses that have gone up in Churchstoke over the last few years," she said.

Mrs Telling has taken her case to her MP Lembit �pik

"I live in the lowest lying property here so when the pump can't cope with the volume of foul water it stacks up and comes back to my property first."

Bubbling back

Six months ago Severn Trent Water installed a valve in Mrs Telling's sewage pipe which stopped foul water bubbling back through her toilet.

"But the sewage is still blowing the tops off manhole covers and pouring across the garden," she added.

"This means we can't shower or use the toilet for up to two weeks after this happens.

"My partner and I have been forced to abandon downstairs and live in what used to be the bedrooms."

Mrs Telling has taken her case to Montgomeryshire MP Lembit �pik, who wants Severn Trent to upgrade the pumping house, and hopes to persuade Ofwat to get the company to do that.

"Years of under investment has caused this problem and at the moment only Ofwat can enforce the law," he said.

Sewage has come up through the toilet more than 50 times

"We need to change the law so that water companies are forced to address this problem which is affecting 20,000 people throughout the country."

A Severn Trent Water spokesman said: "Mrs Telling's situation is a very unpleasant one and sewer flooding is not acceptable. We are having to cope with the demands of the 21st century with a system largely designed in the 19th.

"We are currently planning a large investment into alleviating the sewer flooding in Churchstoke which should begin in the coming months.

"In the short-term we have installed a device that has helped prevent Mrs Telling's house from flooding.

"But we need to make sure any major work provides a long-term solution to the problem, and this requires extensive planning.

"We need to consider all of our options and this may include improvements to the pumping station."