Sewage System at capacity

15 Feb 2021 – 11am Email from Thames Water

Hi 
Thank you for the emails regarding the overflowing manhole on Friday and Saturday. Pleased be assured our teams were aware of this and working to implement the Atac unit as soon as possible. 

The unit was turned on and working by Saturday, although I appreciate we were affected by the cold weather and its unforeseen impact on the unit.  Our teams completed a clean of the areas around the manhole in Newbury Street,  on Sunday.  

Although we had mobilised the unit several weeks ago,  we do have to wait until the manholes spill before we are able to turn this on, part of the agreement for its use is that the manholes are surcharging. Therefore, it can’t be turned on prior to this. 

This year has also been different, as we had passed what had previously been the red line where the manholes spilled. Therefore, we were in unchartered territory regarding when they may spill. This shows the work that we have completed has made a difference to how the sewers are reacting, which is a positive sign. 

We will now make a note of the level the sewers reacted at and use this as a base for future deployment.  In addition, we have also turned on the overpump in Upper Lambourne which is moving the surface water from the ditches to the river, which we wait to understand what impact / assistance this may have on our network.

As mentioned we appreciate the emails at the weekend, however as I am sure you may understand, individually we are not always available to respond.  Therefore, our 24 contact centre should always be the first point of contact as we would not want any delays if attendance is required. However, all our local teams are aware of the location and the actions required should the manholes spill, no matter what time of day.

We understand the residents in the area are aware of what has happened, and this has generated some comments on different media platforms. We appreciate flooding can be upsetting and therefore, we hope you will assist in helping with relaying information about the actions we have taken to residents, to help them understand the work that we have completed here. 

Kind regards 
Denise

14 February 2021

18:00 Update from Rachel Carden: Quick update. I have just spoken with the TW engineer on site. The Atac unit is now running. Raw sewage has now stopped running down the road. It is being filtered then piped into the river as a temporary measure. Whilst the situation is not desirable, it does at least mean that the sewage is filtered to an extent, and we will doubtless be told that the dilution rate will render the sewage harmless, as we were last year. But please Community, just because it’s less visible now, don’t forget that many people and the environment are still being adversely affected, we owe it to them to see this is resolved fully and finally.

14:00: The Lambourn sewage system is once again at capacity with sewage now escaping through the inspection cover in Newbury Street and running along the gutter into the river Lambourn. Thames Water are aware of the situation and have installed a mobile sewage processing plant on the footpath beside the fire station.

The sewer system was inspected following last year’s flooding and sections of the system have been upgraded in order to stop groundwater entering the sewage pipes. However it appears that groundwater continues to seep into the system and it has reached the point where the pipes carrying the waste away to the Great Shefford sewage treatment plant are no longer able to cope.

Thames Water attended the scene in order to switch on the mobile filtration unit however due to the cold weather the seals on the unit had perished and Thames Water are now waiting for the contractor to repair the unit prior to it being put into use. In the meantime raw sewage is flowing into the river Lambourn.

Bill Kelly from Thames Water had predicted the situation and warned residents in his letter to the community some four weeks ago that it is likely that the pumping and filter unit will need to be operational. How right he was.

Laura Farris, Member of Parliament for Newbury, has committed to talk to Thames Water to address the situation. Laura has been a champion for Lambourn and has been engaged in extensive discussions with Thames Water over the past months to address the situation.

Mick Dowdeswell commented on Facebook:
That manhole, by the fire station, is a dead end, so whatever Thames Water says, the sewage has nowhere to go, but upwards into the street. What Thames Water did there for weeks, was useless, to my mind and makes no difference, obviously. We went through all of this last February, with the TV, NWN and other representatives there. There is a fork in the pipeline near the Nippy Chippy that goes across the Sports Field which meets up with others, and this spur to the fire station, which then stops has been a nightmare for years.