Villagers living with sewage spurting from drains as faeces bubbles into roads
A village in East Yorkshire is suffering from gallons of foul-smelling sewage "spurting" from drains and pouring into homes.
While the residents of North Newbald are used to sewage problems, two neighbours believe that it "has never been this bad". Despite a recent Yorkshire Water project to line the sewage network in the village, "extremely high" groundwater levels have meant that the contents of the sewer have risen above street level.
Residents claim they now face wading through ankle-deep and foul-smelling sewage to access their homes. One resident living in The Mires, Matthew Johnson, first noticed an issue on Boxing Day, when he was struggling to flush his toilet properly. He said: "I went out to check the water under the drain covers and they were full to the brim.
"I reported the problem to Yorkshire Water and brought up the issue of the protected water vole species in the beck, and they came the next day. It's a good job they did because by December 27, the drain covers were overflowing with sewage and it hasn't stopped since.
"Yorkshire Water did clean up the roads because they were covered with faeces but it is all around my house. Thankfully it has stayed outside for now but it has a very strong pong."
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He added: "With the drain still overflowing, Matthew has avoided touching it until it manages to stop. "We have had this problem in the village before. It was around June time and it mainly affected people who live further up in the village. It has not happened this badly at my property before.
"Yorkshire Water is also testing the beck for ammonia, to see how it will affect the wildlife, " he claimed. "They have lined all of the main sewers before to stop them filling up, but in my opinion, the drains aren't big enough to handle a lot of rain and it will likely happen again."
Yorkshire Water have been at the scene to help assist with clean ups. (Donna Clifford/ Hull Live)HullLive reported that Matthew and his neighbours have agreed that North Newbald is a lovely place to live but the sewage problem lets it down. Another resident of The Mires, who did not want to be named, said the issue is a big source of frustration. The man, who is currently on holiday, has had pictures and videos of his property sent to him, which show his house surrounded by sewage. He said: "I haven't even had the opportunity to see if it has damaged the inside of my house yet.
"This has been happening for many years and I thought that last time it had been fixed for good. Manhole covers have exploded, I've seen toilet paper strewn across the street, and one time, I even fell in it.
"It is a danger to public health and people are going to get ill. It is otherwise a lovely village but it is looking likely that our annual New Year's Day charity duck race will be cancelled because of this."
Yorkshire Water has been at the scene to help assist with clean ups. However, it is unclear what more can be done to stop this happening again if it rains because water is still getting in the sewer via other access points.
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "We understand how distressing incidents like this can be and our teams are attending to carry out any necessary inspections and clean ups. Groundwater levels in the area are extremely high following the prolonged wet weather over the last few months.
"We carried out a project to line our network in the village to minimise groundwater infiltration, however it appears groundwater has entered the network via other points. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and groundwater levels and take any necessary steps to minimise the impact on customers in the village."
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