Human waste rising into homes from private sewer

A blocked private sewer has left residents scared to flush their toilets for fear that sewage will rise up into their neighbours' homes.

People living in Anderson Place and Whitfield Gardens, in East Hanney, Oxfordshire, said waste had entered their houses during the recent period of prolonged heavy rain.

Resident Sarah Millard described the situation as "a risk to public health".

Thames Water said the problem was with a blocked pipe in the private system, but residents insist it happens whenever the public sewer fills with rainwater.

The estates were built with a private sewer system after the water company told their developer its network would not cope with the additional load.

"There's babies on the estate, there's older people," Millard said. "Every time you flush the toilet the shower rises up. It's just a nightmare."

The private sewage system for the two estates involves huge underground holding tanks.

Waste from the roughly 60 homes goes into the tanks and is pumped into the public sewer at a controlled rate, or at off peak times, to avoid putting extra pressure on the system.

With the tanks unable to empty, residents are paying for tankers to come and suck out some of the sewage and drive it to a treatment works.

Resident Stuart Tyrrell said: "The tankers basically just buy us some time.

"We had 16,000 litres removed and it lasted probably four or five hours [before the system was full again]."

Recent heavy rain also left Thames Water's sewage treatment works at capacity, so it had to stop accepting tankers.

Vaughan Lewis worked in the water and sewage industry for 45 years and is a member of the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution campaign group.

"It's a problem created by the water companies," he said.

"They have failed to invest, their networks are broken, their sewage treatment works are broken.

"Developers are having to search for solutions which are not ideal and which put us all at more environmental and health jeopardy."

Thames Water said it was delivering "record levels of investment" as part of the biggest upgrade to its network in 150 years.

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