Vile surge of sewage swamps garden as Southern Water is accused of washing hands of problem

A SURGE of raw sewage has left residents up in arms after it swamped a back garden – leaving a horrendous stench wafting across the area.
Kate Claxton's back garden in Kensington Road, Copnor, after a sewage pipe became blockedKate Claxton's back garden in Kensington Road, Copnor, after a sewage pipe became blocked
Kate Claxton's back garden in Kensington Road, Copnor, after a sewage pipe became blocked

To compound matters, people living in Kensington Road, Copnor, feel that staff at Southern Water have washed their hands of the problem after failing to resolve the woes for a number of days.

Natalie Gillet, 56, who lives next door to the besieged garden, said: ‘There has been raw sewage pumping into the garden next door to me. The garden is full of it. It is disgusting. The lady who lives there has a 10-month old baby and a cat as well.

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‘It is a hygiene hazard. But despite this Southern Water has said they cannot get into the property where the manhole is. They just said they cannot do any more.

‘It is a house of multiple-occupancy with seven people living there with lots of showers and toilets. There have been problems there before. Southern Water came out over a month ago and thought they had sorted the problem but they haven’t.’

The horrendous leak has seen sewage splattered all over Kate Claxton’s garden – coming right up to her back door.

Southern Water has now apologised and says it is attempting to sort the problem out.

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Floyd Cooper, county customer manager of Southern Water, said: ‘We're very sorry that the issue in Kensington Road has not yet been resolved and we understand our customers’ frustration. Initial investigations indicate that there is a blockage in the sewer which runs behind several houses.

‘Our teams have previously attended but were unfortunately unable to get access to the garden through which we will be able to clear the blockage with minimum impact. If we try to clear it with high-pressure water jets from the wrong side, we run the risk of worsening the problem.

‘We'll be attending again and hopefully we'll be able to access the sewer in the right location so we can get to work on clearing the pipe. We'd like to reassure our customers that we will continue trying to gain access until we clear the blockage and resolve the situation.’