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Thames Water: Lambourn villagers 'fed up' with walking through sewage

Action for the River Kennet flooded roadAction for the River Kennet
The waste water keeps flooding Newbury Street, locals say

People in a Berkshire village have described having to wade through raw sewage because of unresolved problems with flooding.

The water, said to contain "faeces" and "sanitary products", has been spewing from a sewage drain on Newbury Street and flowing through parts of Lambourn.

One resident said children had been walking through the water to get to school and that it had been running into a nearby chalk stream.

Thames Water previously apologised.

Sign that reads 'slow raw sewage'
Charity Action for the River Kennet is concerned a nearby chalk stream is being contaminated

The water company blamed the flooding on high groundwater and saturated ground, which had caused a "significant amount" of water to enter the local sewer system and cause flooding from manholes.

But Nicola Morley, who has lived in the village for more than 50 years, said the situation had been going on for months and that locals were "fed up".

She said: "Poor children have to walk through it to go to school. Cars drive through it, it splashes everywhere.

"You can see faeces, sanitary products, underwear - anything that can go down a toilet is actually running outside the road.

"This ends up being washed down into a chalk stream river... so that gets polluted."

Other sewers on Goose Green and Oxford Street had been overflowing since the start of the year, she added.

overflowing drain
Raw sewage has been overflowing from a drain in the middle of a road

In a post on social media, Action for the River Kennet (ARK) said the nearby River Lambourn was being contaminated with sewage.

"Residents are reporting to us that Thames Water 'clean ups' involve hosing and brushing into the... chalk stream," the charity said.

ARK describes chalk streams as "rare, globally important and fragile ecosystems", with only 260 in the world and 224 of them in England.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency called the situation "unacceptable".

Previously, Thames Water said it was carrying out daily clean-ups, adding it believed there had been a "minimal impact on the environment" because the sewage was diluted.

The water company has been re-approached for comment.

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