All posts in the topic Bad smell? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 4 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Ruth Wilkinson at Nov 13 20:12 UTC
Hi all, I'm getting worried about the number of sewage problems coming up in
casework from Brookside, Stoke Place, Osler Road/St Andrew's Road triangle.
Communications with Thames Water leave a lot to be desired by residents,
councillors and by officers, and people at the top are trying to sort this out.
Meanwhile there are some useful things we can do. Most importantly, reps from
Thames Water have been asked to come to next Tuesday's Area Committee meeting
at Bayard's Hill School, Bayswater Road, Barton (parking off Waynflete Road) at
6 pm, and it would be great if residents could come along in numbers and ask
questions about their specific problems. Secondly, can anyone with sewage
problems and other TW-related problems who can't get to the meeting please let
your local councillors know of any TW issue you're concerned about? Then we can
raise these at, or after, the meeting. I'm going to tell journalists about the
meeting too so that they can help us pursue Thames Water for some action ..
Are there any sewage issues in the Marston area as well as Headington, anyone?
There was an interesting piece in the Oxford Mail on Wednesday about sewage getting into the Boundary Brook: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/search/3801226.Raw_sewage_flow_found/ This affects the Brookside/Highfield Avenue area (and presumably continues to be a problem as the brook continues towards Cowley). It was initially caused by a wrong connection in Windmill Road; but now Thames Water don't seem to be sure what the problem is at all. I understand that there is a problem in Quarry too. Is it not very worrying that the company supplying Headington with its drinking water isn't sure where it is sending its sewage?
Roads have two waste water pipes. One is for sewage and the other for surface
water. I would imagine that a builder making a new conection got them mixed up.
It seems that at one point, Headington Homewares and the others were preparing
for months of disruption about this as their property was one that was supposed
to have been 'wrongly connected'. However, when the preliminary hole was dug
and an investigation made, it turned out that there was nothing wrong with the
connections to that group at all.
The plumbing to the various services is likely to date from the original
construction of that group of shops - probably in the 1920s, but it was found
to be correctly done.
Goodness knows where all the plans for the waste services were filed at the
time. It was a different time and world (actually one in which records were
probably scrupulously kept!)
David Clover
Well the good news is that the WaterWatch campaign DavidRundle and I set up is
making some progress on the sewage problems that have been reported in the
Headington area. We've seen some action from Thames Water in Stoke Place and
St Andrew's Road, and we have assurances that the foul and surface water sewers
will be fully cleaned out within the next month
David is holding a site meeting with local residents and representatives of
Thames Water and the Environment Agency shortly to sort out the
pollution/sewage problems in Brookside and Boundary Brook.
I'm still on the case with the Saxon Way/Stockleys Road smells but we're making
progress, and photos of the manhole covers that need replacing in Laurel Farm
Close and Old High Street are currently winging their way across the ether from
County to Thames Water
Please let me know if there are any other trouble spots in the ward we need to
be sorting out!