We first wrote about the sewage in the brook saga on 2 June 2015. Can you believe it, nearly 17 months later and the problem is still not resolved.
In the intervening months Cranleigh Civic Society has sent countless emails and made several calls to Thames Water, the Environment Agency and Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health Department.
The fact that this problem seems to have been going on for over 7 years, some residents say longer, is a disgrace. We can’t help but feel that there is something seriously wrong with our sewerage system when the continued discharge of raw sewage into a brook off the high street remains unchecked for so many years.
After unsuccessful attempts to get the brook problem resolved, in April 2015 the Cranleigh Civic Society took water samples, got them analysed at an independent specialist laboratory and reported the results to the Environment Agency (the E coli result was 24 times above the allowable limit).
The Environment Agency response was immediate, they elevated the brook to “Priority Status” and the very next day they served a 30 day notice on Thames Water to deal with the issue.
In May 2015 a cleanup of the brook took place and Thames Water commenced a series of extensive dye tests around Cranleigh, whilst keeping us informed of their progress.
On 1 June 2015 Thames Water confirmed that they had found units on the High Street that had misconnected their foul sewer lines into the surface water sewer draining into the brook. The two properties were advised how to resolve this issue, and we understand that arrangements were made for the connections to be made to the correct sewer system.
However, Thames Water continued with their investigations, as they advised us that two units could not on their own account for the extent of the problem in the brook.
Subsequently, they carried out more camera and dye testing working their way down the High Street sewers.
In August 2015, the Environment Agency (EA) confirmed that Thames Water had discovered a significant misconnection, again located in the High Street.
Apparently, according to Thames Water remedial work for this issue was completed in October 2015; and it was understood that this should resolve most of the issues in the brook.
Thames Water said they were also aware of a couple of minor outstanding issues (sinks that need re-plumbing) that they were going to follow up. However, it was stressed that these shouldn’t cause significant growth of fungus in the brook.
Finally, EA confirmed that Thames Water were continuing to work on the problem, including doing some additional clean-up work – “after which they believe they will be able to better judge whether or not there are any other significant misconnections or other pollution sources.”
However that was not the end! After further reports of continued sewage in the brook yet another clean up was carried out on 26 November 2015.
There was a a lull over the winter months with the onset of heavier rainfall and colder temperatures. However, in April 2016 sewage was reported to be discharging into the brook once more.
Cranleigh Civic Society advised the EA on 4 May 2016 once again that with the onset of warmer weather sewage fungus was flourishing in the brook (see image below). You can also see that a bund (grey pipe), had appeared across the exit point of the surface water sewer pipe, which was not even touching the surface of the brook, and therefore was of no use whatsoever.
On 6 May 2016 the EA replied confirming that “We were made aware of a ‘sludge-like deposit’ on the bed of the channel in the Knowle Park area on the 28/04/16. Thames Water attended the incident within 2 hours of the report. They were unable to identify a discharge to the river, but have logged the incident and confirmed to us that they will be sending out a member of their network team to investigate this matter further. We are currently awaiting further information from them.”
On 9 May 2016 the EA confirmed that they had been in contact with Thames Water who had carried out a CCTV survey of the sewers in the areas and have detected a “small leak from the foul sewer” into the surface water drain.
The solution they said was for Thames Water to re-attend the site to plan works to rectify the issue The proposal was to to reline the leaking sewers or reroute them.
EA also confirmed that “the incident is having a localised low-level environmental impact on the channel that feeds the Littlemead Brook near Knowle Park. Approximately 10m of the channel was observed to be impacted by sewage fungus.”
We have seen no major sewer relining/rerouting work taking place.
9 September 2016 and residents reported sewage fungus again in the brook, which we subsequently reported to Thames Water and Environmental Health at Waverley. Tankers arrived on 12 September to suck out sewage from the brook and so the problem continues…….
A resident advised us that they had a telephone call on 14 September 2016 from Thames Water confirming that a tanker would be going to the brook on Knowle Lane every six weeks to pump out the sewage until the problem was solved.
The latest email from Thames Water on 19 October 2016 repeats the same old unacceptable story of unknown sewage misconnections into Thames Water’s surface water sewer in the High Street discharging into the brook:
“From the latest reports received, it would appear that there may be further and previously unidentified properties that also have misconnected sewer pipes and we will have to arrange for further testing and investigations to be carried out. I have asked that one of our Engineers reattend Cranleigh High Street and carry out further investigations into the reported problems.”
Thames Water confirmed that they would provide an update by no later than 2 November 2016. We are not holding our breath.
We want to know what is really going on with the sewerage network in Cranleigh? Is there a significant problem with the ageing main sewer running down the high street? Is the sewage tank on the corner of John Whiskar Drive and Knowle Lane leaking into the brook?
Against this backdrop of issues, Waverley Borough Council keep granting planning permission for huge estates in and around the village, taking no account of this and other ongoing sewage problems. For the latest application by Thakeham Homes, Thames Water has not even applied a Grampian style condition requiring upgrade work to the sewerage network prior to commencement of the development. This is completely unacceptable.
We intend to keep investigating the problems with our sewerage network and water supply and will keep you updated as soon as we can.
We have kept our MP Anne Milton informed of the situation and she has also been pressing Thames Water for answers. If you are concerned please email Anne Milton anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk and ask her to continue to pursue this matter on your behalf. Thank you.
Cranleigh Civic Society is run completely by volunteers, please help us to keep you informed and become a member.
