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Thames Water has completed a £10m scheme to stop Haydon Wick homes flooding with sewage.
The two-year project to expand sewers so they can handle heavy rain will directly protect 75 homes and improve drainage for hundreds more.
Sewer flooding is when sewage backs up into people’s houses when sewers get overloaded. It has affected certain properties in Haydon Wick for many years.
The scheme involved:
• Laying 2.1 miles of new pipes;
• Building a new sewer under the High Street and Blunsdon Road;
• Building larger pipes from Lady Lane to Blunsdon Road;
• Building a new sewage pumping station in Deben Crescent;
• Installing 60 new manholes;
• Re-surfacing High Street, Green Valley Avenue and Blunsdon Road.
Bob Collington, director of operational management at Thames Water, said:
“Protecting customers from the misery of sewer flooding is a top priority for us. No-one should have to put up with this truly horrible experience.
“I’ve met many of the residents in Haydon Wick whose lives have been disrupted, and I’m really pleased they’ll no longer be living in fear every time there’s heavy rain.
“This was a complicated problem that required detailed investigation and design work to ensure we delivered an effective, long-term solution.
“I’d like to thank the residents of Haydon Wick for bearing with us during these works.”
Michael Wills MP for Swindon, said:
“I have been working with Thames Water for a long time to get better protection from the flooding that has been such a problem in Haydon Wick. I am delighted to see all this hard work come to fruition and I know all my constituents who will benefit are very grateful to Thames Water.”
Swindon Borough Councillors for the area - Rex Barnett, Ian Dobie and David Renard - said:
"We would like to express our appreciation to Thames Water for the excellent work they have done to help alleviate flood problems in Haydon Wick.
"We have been working with them and other partners continuously for the last five years to identify the problems, work up a scheme that residents have approved of and then to deliver it with as little disruption as possible. Thames Water and their contractor, Murphy, have been thorough, professional and responsive throughout but particularly over the last 12 months during the delivery phase.
"Now that the foul water works have been completed, local residents will be able to sleep more peacefully.
"Finally, we'd like to express our appreciation for the imminent reinstatement works that will leave our area looking attractive after their departure."
Before the £10m Haydon Wick scheme, Thames Water installed a number of measures to help protect individual properties, improving Haydon End sewage pumping station and existing sewers installed in the 1950s in the worst-affected spots.
ENDS
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
