Christmas ruined after raw sewage pours into street

Published on Wednesday 2 January 2008 09:26

RESIDENTS saw their Christmas and New Year celebrations turn sour after raw sewage began seeping up through the pavement.

Between one and three centimetres of sludge has been bubbling to the surface of a Newhaven street every day since December 22.

Jonathan Harris, 37, one of the unhappy Hawthornvale residents, said people had been complaining to Scottish Water for days, without success.

However, shortly after the exasperated residents turned to the Evening News on Monday the company had sent a team of engineers to fix the problem.

"(We] were all told by customer services something would be done about it," said Mr Harris. "At times it can be pretty foul smelling. It's a real mess of toilet paper and what can only be described as faeces flowing down the side of the pavement in the gutter. It's absolutely disgusting and when its wet. You can't see what you're walking in.

"We had a similar problem last year and nobody ever got to the bottom of that but this time it seems worse. It's ruined our Christmas and New Year because you can't invite guests around with that problem happening."

Several people had contacted the city council's festive helpline and were referred to Scottish Water, but the problems were never resolved.

Dr Chris Mackel, 62, said he returned home from a short break on December 27 to find the sewage still pouring past his front door.

He said: "I reported it twice to the council and then to Scottish Water to complain about the problem. So when I came back and saw it worse I contacted the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to see if they could help.

"But it's still bad and I'd say there's probably about three centimetres been gurgling up from the drains. It's an absolute health hazard."

The Evening News called Scottish Water to ask why nothing had been done.

Residents said within an hour the company had sent contractors to the street in an effort to first suck up the waste and to flush it into the drains with high-powered water jets.

Scottish Water said the problem was partly caused by people flushing nappies and sanitary products down the toilet instead of disposing of them in bins, which contributed to the blockage.

Scottish Water spokesman Jason Rose said: "There seems to be a serious blockage of some sort causing the problem. It might be things that have been flushed down the toilet or at this time of year with all the cooking going on, fat being poured down the sink, or even a tree root gone through the pipe.

"We've a suction vacuum down there pumping up the mess. We'll have a team of men down at Hawthornvale round the clock while this is happening to get it fixed. It might be that the drain needs replacing.

"In the meantime, we are asking people to carefully wrap items and put them in the bin, rather than putting them down the toilet.

"The water system was simply not designed to cope with these things and they cause blockages in pipes and treatment plants."