Southern Water vows 'thorough investigation' as flooded Portsmouth residents pile on pressure

It comes as Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt and residents in flood-hit streets pile pressure onto the trouble-hit water utility firm.

People in Salisbury Road, Cosham, saw toilet paper, excrement and dead rats wash up from flooded drains on Tuesday – sparking a clean-up operation.

Sandbags are being delivered by the company to homes affected and a floodwater-extracting tanker could be sent out during downpours, residents said.

Temporary flood barriers will be allocated to some homes. No homes were flooded on Tuesday but waters got near front doors. Driveways and gardens were affected.

Scrutiny of Southern Water saw its representatives meet residents and Ms Mordaunt on Wednesday night. They now want the firm to work ‘at pace’ and come back in person with solutions.

Full-time carer Lucy Heard, 36, has lived in the street for more than five years and attended the meeting.

She told The News: ‘Everyone has come away feeling that they were listened to in the end, and something will be done.

‘We will be patient, but we will not be going away. We want things to get better.’

Others living in surrounding roads also attended, with Lucy warning it’s a ‘big problem’ in Drayton and Cosham

Heavy rainfall was due with Storm Evert into today and last night, with the Met Office putting in a yellow weather warning.

MP Ms Mordaunt said flooding was a recurring problem in the north of the city, with dense urban development among the factors causing the problem.

Ocean Retail Park in Burrfields Road, Copnor, saw flooding close stores and a gym was cleaned up by volunteers in Hilsea.

The MP, a government minister, said: ‘A large amount of my casework over the years has been about flooding.

‘There are a lot of things we need to unpick.’

But she said Cosham faced ‘an exceptional set of circumstances’ that was exacerbated by nearby developments leaving water ‘trapped’ in certain streets.

Having been briefed by the utility company on Monday, Ms Mordaunt said: ‘The main parts of the system were working well. The pumping station was working fine.

‘The run-off water shouldn’t be affecting the sewage system.

‘There appear to be a number of things going wrong...there will be further investigative work they need to do – but they need to move at a pace in order to protect this community.

She added: ‘The residents have been amazing – we collected hundreds of videos and photos from them. We are asking Southern Water to come in person to present their findings and solutions to residents as soon as practically possible.’

SEE ALSO: MP tells Southern Water to 'clean up its act' with sewage system 'not fit for purpose' after parts of Portsmouth swamped by floodwater

In a statement, a Southern Water spokesman said £30m had been spent in recent years on keeping rainwater out of the wastewater network in the city.

He said: ‘Southern Water is committed to working together to find and implement those solutions as well as investing in the network to minimise the risk of future upsetting pictures like the ones we have seen from this community recently.’

The company will now carry out a full survey to ‘investigate all the sources of flooding to understand in more detail how that affects the capacity of our sewer network’.

The spokesman said: ‘This thorough investigation will help us to understand how best to support customers in this area and reduce the risk for future flooding events.

‘The geography of the Portsmouth area, with some low lying areas combined with the challenges of climate change and population growth means there is a pressing need to understand what solutions can be found by all agencies working together to ensure we reduce the sources of water entering our sewer network and overwhelming it.

‘Southern Water is committed to working together to find and implement those solutions as well as investing in the network to minimise the risk of future upsetting pictures like the ones we have seen from this community recently.’

Why did Portsmouth street flood?

Torrential downpours saw 30mm of rain registered by Southern Water's pumping station at Eastney in less than an hour on Tuesday morning.

In dry times the station pumps 700 litres of wastewater a second to the company's Budds Farm treatment centre in Havant.

But on Tuesday this skyrocketed to 20,000 litres a second.

The flow filled the storm tanks at Budds Farm, and the 40 million litre tanks at Fort Cumberland in less than an hour.

With the storm tanks filled and water still coming, the company released screened and diluted wastewater into the sea at Langstone Harbour.

It’s such a big problem in the area as older combined sewers take both wastewater and rainwater away – and are overwhelmed by heavy rain.

A company spokesman said: ‘The use of storm overflows reduces the risk of heavily diluted wastewater affecting people’s homes and businesses but it cannot eliminate the risk completely.’

Further problems are caused by people putting oil, sanitary towels, tampons, ear buds and other items down toilets and sinks causing problems.

As reported, the firm was fined £90m after admitting a slew of unpermitted sewage discharges between 2010-2015.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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