11:10am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Adam Gaudry
PEOPLE told how their lives have been ruined by sewage flooding into their homes.
Residents of sheltered housing in Pine Close, Wickford, have complained to water company watchdog, Consumer Council for Water.
Georgina Rich, 68, said drains become blocked and overflow every time there is heavy rainfall.
She claims Anglian Water blamed the local pump station, in Nevendon Road, for not being able to cope with the level of water, and said it needs to be renewed.
Mrs Rich said: “It’s no joke. It’s been happening for seven years.
“This seems to be happening every other month.
“At the end of last month, we had sewage coming up through the sink of someone’s house.
“One of my neighbour’s house still smells of sewage.
“We’ve been told the pump station in Nevendon Road is the problem. But it’s just not good enough, especially in a place where the average age is 80. I’m one of the youngest here.”
Mrs Rich said she has written to the consumer council and Anglian Water, asking them to resolve the problem.
David Ball, 76, said residents sigh whenever they see grey skies.
He said: “We’ve been told the pumping stations are just too old to cope, but they haven’t done anything about replacing them.
“The past two times it happened, it took three days for the drains to be cleared.”
Amy Weiser, a spokeswoman for the consumer council, said the group is currently awaiting a response from Anglian Water.
The water company has been given ten working days to come back with an answer.
But Ramani Vaheesan, an Anglian Water spokeswoman, said the blockage was not down to the pumping station, but usually caused by flushed rags, wet wipes and other items.
She said: “We have now placed the sewer in Nevendon Road on a six-month planned preventative maintenance programme with high pressure water jetting and CCTV monitoring.
“We’re also concerned about the volume of surface water entering this section of the sewer and will be investigating any misconnections of surface water into the sewer.”
She added the company was happy to speak to residents and would be advising them of the problems.
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