Town 'hit by tsunami of human waste' killing fish and making residents homeless

08 December 2023 , 12:22

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Human sewage has flooded the village following bad weather (Image: Eddie Mitchell)

A picturesque village in Sussex now reeks of human poo after a “tsunami of human waste” was released following a collapsed sewer.

Villagers in Barnham, near Chichester, have kicked up a stink at the carnage with sewage flooding homes and leaving roads shut after damage from Storm Ciaran at the end of October. Locals say fish in the rivers are dying and some people have even been left homeless.

Southern Water, the company in charge of the village’s sewage, has blamed a river bursting its banks. Officials say some longer-term repairs needed may take until February next year to be completed.

Fish have died as a result of the filthy water (Eddie Mitchell)

Renford Marsden, who lives in Barnham, said they had "lost control of the situation". He added: “With all these road closures, traffic is being diverted onto small country roads that cannot cope with the volume of traffic.”

A spokesman for Southern Water said: "We are sorry for the impact that our work is having in the Barnham area. Homes at Marshall Close were flooded during Storm Ciaran, we're investigating whether any of our assets had any impact on this, however the primary reason for this is the rife next to the homes had burst its banks. We're continuing to offer support to customers who were impacted.

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Southern Water is now urgently trying to clean up the mess (Eddie Mitchell)

"We have been made aware of reports of dead fish at the rife next to Marshall Close and are taking samples and carrying out our own investigations into this. Elsewhere in Barnham our teams are repairing a collapsed sewer at Barnham Road which has resulted in a full road closure. This repair is proving to be difficult due to further issues we have encountered including a void under the road which means this work may take some time to complete.”

The company has vowed to sort out the stink and the disruption, adding: "Our teams are also repairing another sewer at Elm Grove in Barnham, this is a longer-term repair which will be to re-lay the sewer and this work will take place until the end of February. We're working with the local council following wider flooding issues in the area since the impact of Storm Babet and Storm Ciaran. As part of this we have increased the number of tankers in use to reduce flooding of our sewer network in Barnham and Lidsey."

Jake Loader