A Marlow resident spotted 'thundering' Thames Water tankers tackling sewage overflow in the town last week.

A resident, who asked not be named, said they have seen Thames Water tankers travelling up and down Gunthorpe Road in Marlow over the past few weeks.

"We've had tankers thundering along our narrow, built-up but usually quiet road for the past month, all coming back and forth from the pumping station."

They added that they thought this seemingly delayed action might indicate an underinvestment in sewage infrastructures by Thames Water.

A spokesperson from the utility company said they currently have tankers across different locations in Marlow to manage an "excess" flow of their sewage networks.

"The tankers ensure residents can continue to use their facilities and protect them from flooding. The excess is then taken to Little Marlow sewage treatment works for processing.

"We apologise if this is causing any disruption to residents and once the flows in the network subside, we will be able to remove the tankers."

It comes after Thames Water revealed plans to upgrade over 250 of its sewage treatment sites as part of a commitment to invest over 1.6 billion in sewers over the next two years.

Sarah Bentley, Chief Executive of Thames Water, said: “We are under no illusions of the scale of the challenge ahead of us in improving the health of our rivers and are determined to be transparent about the actions we are taking to significantly reduce discharges.”

She added that works were currently underway to reduce pollution in Buckinghamshire, by replacing pumped sewer mains, cleaning the sewers and upgrading sewage treatment works.

Thames Water was the first company in its sector to create a real-time discharge map, after mounting public pressure to monitor sewage overflows across its regions.  

Ms Bentley said that planned upgrades to the map would include data pinned to individual sewage works and discharge points about investment and development plans. 

According to the event duration monitor (EDM) map, storm overflows in Marlow have not discharged in the last 48 hours.

Marlow MP Joy Morrisey spoke out last month against Thames Water discharging sewage into the town’s waterways.

She emphasised her support for Buckinghamshire Council’s Little Marlow Sewage Treatment Works Liaison Committee, which holds Thames Water accountable for dumping sewage in the Thames, and said her priority was to ensure that Marlow remained a “beautifully dynamic town with strong infrastructure for generations to come”.