Thames Water has apologised after ‘long-term rainfall’ caused a sewer system to overflow, with waste escaping into residential streets through manholes and drains.

Lindy Chambers, of South Place in Marlow, said raw sewage has been running down her road since early February, leaving waste "sitting in the street", with other parts of the town including Station Road and Mill Lane similarly affected. 

She said Thames Water has been called in to pump the sewage several times over the last few weeks but with each bout of heavy rainfall, the problem rears its head again – and, in her view, no action has yet been taken to “resolve the issues for good”.

“We are all aware that the mains drainage and sewage systems in the area are not the best due to age, and the council has deployed gully suckers on occasions where excessive groundwater was expected, but all responses seem to be treating the symptoms, not the main cause.

“It is our understanding that the pumping stations servicing Marlow have been down for a while, with no information available about when they will be back up and running.

“There just doesn't appear to be any urgent concern or action and yet this is an urgent issue. It is harmful to our residents and our local animals and it’s a potential pollutant of the River Thames and local watercourses.”

Lindy said the ongoing problem should be subject to even further criticism due to the high house prices and council tax of the area, with the cost of basic utilities “not matching the level of service that should be expected when residents are meeting their inflated payments”.

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A spokesperson for Thames Water apologised to customers who have experienced sewer flooding in Marlow and said they “recognise the difficulty” of the ongoing issue.

Adding: “There has been higher than average long-term rainfall across London and the Thames Valley and groundwater levels are also exceptionally high for this time of year.

“Our engineers have found that the heavy rainfall caused our local sewer system to overload, resulting in diluted water escaping from nearby manholes.

“We have had tankers in the area to pump away excess flows from manholes to prevent them from overflowing and have also arranged for an extensive clean and investigation of our sewers and pumping stations to identify any obstructions that may be disrupting the flow in the area.”