Weymouth residents’ fears over raw sewage discharge

Parts of Church Street and Watery Lane have seen raw sewage discharged onto the road and on people’s property as the current system can’t handle the demands.

It's feared this will happen again soon with more heavy rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

A flood alert issued for the River Wey yesterday was later withdrawn as the river levels went down - although the situation is being monitored.

Janet Taylor, who lives at Weyside Cottages, nestled on the bank of the River Wey, is more concerned about what is coming out of the drains in her front garden than the river behind.

The manhole cover outside janet's home pops up and releases sewage into her front garden (Image: Andy Jones)

She said: “Pretty much our front garden floods and the drains pop up.

“The real problem is the sewage. They’ve popped up again (manhole covers). We tell Wessex Water and they do come clean it up.

“It is not nice, condoms, sanitary products and wipes, that people shouldn’t be putting down there, come up.

“It’s a real concern for people here. When you go for a walk, you don’t expect to have to wonder what you are walking in.”

Raw sewage was discharged all over Janet's front garden (Image: Andy Jones)

Janet also said that debris often washed down the streets after heavy rain.

Talking about the rising levels of the river, she said: “It does worry us, but we expect it.”

Further down the lane, Mr and Mrs Brown also voiced their concerns about the sewage that comes spilling out on to the roads outside the entrance to their home.

A corner of the road is an area where water pools and there is a manhole cover close by.

Manhole covers along the road pop open and force walkers to wade through diluted sewage (Image: Andy Jones)

They said: "It has been flooding for 16 years and there is an active campaign about it. We report the manhole covers every time they come up and take photos. They have done testing for E-coli and faecal matter which it has confirmed. But you could see that anyway.

“Our big concern is from people on foot or bike as they are forced to wade through diluted sewage.

“Dorset Council are doing a survey of the drainage in the area and are supposed to start lining the sewer in January.

“The problem is, it’s an old nine-inch pipe that can’t cope with all the development that has taken place since the 1920s.

“They say it will be a mitigating solution, but we are not sure.”

One of the manhole covers on Watery Lane that discharges sewage (Image: Andy Jones)

A neighbouring couple who have lived on Watery Lane for 20 years also believe that the main problem in the area is not the flooding, but did talk about a system provided by the Environment Agency that warns them of any potential risks.

They said “The biggest problem is the flood water getting into the sewers, the manhole covers then lift and sewage comes out.

“We are registered with the Environment Agency’s flood system, so we get a phone call when there is a warning.

“We had one last night (4 December) to warn us about the potential risk but once the levels drop, we received another call to say the levels have subsided.”