Residents who live in a small village in Berkshire have had to put up with “human faeces” and used “condoms and tampons” with raw sewage running down a stretch of road.
For the past three months villagers who live in Lambourn have said that raw sewage started to spew out of manholes in December last year and said that “Thames Water appear to have no motivation to find a solution.”
A drain in Newbury Street in the centre of Lambourne started to overflow and in other areas of the village raw sewage is spilling out.
The River Lambourne feature’s in Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off which is in the North Wessex Downs that is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The 💩 show continues for the River Lambourn.This morning’s footage shows the manhole lids in the village of Lambourn are still continuously pouring fountains of untreated sewage pollution in this fragile chalk stream.
Shocking & unacceptable for our rivers, wildlife & people. pic.twitter.com/jV186F6pro— Action for the River Kennet (ARK) (@ARKennet) March 26, 2024
A resident, who wished to remain anonymous said, “We have had raw sewage running down the road and into the protected river Lambourn since December.
“You can see human faeces and sanitary products flowing down the road and into the river constantly.
Large pot holes have formed in the road and Thames Water appear to have no motivation to find a solution.
“The village requires major investment from those responsible for preventing and dealing with this but this will not happen due to the financial state of those companies and agencies.”
Another resident said, “It’s not just raw sewage – I know it’s disgusting to even think about but there’s condoms and tampons in the road. Our children have to wade through it all to get to school and the smell is abominable.
“We shouldn’t have to live like this.”
Our Director talks about 3 months of 💩 & how money could be better spent fixing the sewage infrastructure & looking at long-term solutions, rather than the reactive & expensive responses being deployed by @thameswater
Tune in 1:09:22 into the programme:https://t.co/jEYw0URG9s pic.twitter.com/w7ZMq9JNAa— Action for the River Kennet (ARK) (@ARKennet) March 24, 2024
Posting online, the Action for the River Kennet charity wrote, “The pollution of the River Lambourn continues.
“This is the same iconic chalk stream that features in the Great British Bake Off, and is a site of Special Specific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.
In another post, the group added, “This morning’s footage shows the manhole lids in the village of Lambourn are still continuously pouring fountains of untreated sewage pollution in this fragile chalk stream. Everything else flushed down the resident’s loos the comes up through the manhole, flows down the street into the storm drain which goes directly into the river.
In addition on the far bank you have sewage pollution coming from Thames Water’s‘ Atac unit, this unit ‘screens’ the solids and pours into the river, it didn’t appear to be performing especially well today. The situation is shocking and unacceptable, for our rivers and for people.”
