Residents living next to a huge sewage pipe built outside their front doors say they are woken up by the sound of human waste being flushed away. The above ground pipe snakes around a housing development.
It was installed last November while Anglian Water fixed an underground pipe following a wave of complaints about foul smells. Locals were given food hampers from the water company as an apology for the inconvenience and were reassured the new pipe would be temporary.
Anglian Water estimated the work would be completed next month but residents fear they'll be living with the outdoor "poo pipe" until the summer. Fed-up locals say they are woken by the sound of poos being flushed away at night while others brand it an "eyesore".
Firefighter Craig Rollason, 32, lives opposite the pipe with his wife Katie, 30, and their newborn baby son Harris.
He said: “When the pipe went up we were all given a hamper from Anglian Water and told it would be sorted by March. Due to the freezing weather last month, we’ve now been warned that it might not be taken down until May or June.
"Before the work started it really smelled bad, which was because of the damaged pipe. We were glad it was getting sorted out, but it's been going on for a while now.
“The pipe is a real eyesore and a hazard for us crossing the road because you have to step into the road and cars can drive up pretty fast. It can be pretty scary crossing the road when you’ve got a newborn baby with you.”
Another resident fumed: “It’s ridiculous to have to live like this. It makes me queasy thinking of all the poo floating past my front door.
“It was bad enough when we were told it would be in place until March, but now we’re looking at the pavement poo pipe being there until the summer. It doesn’t smell now because it’s winter but what happens if there’s another heatwave? It’ll be unbearable.”
Tim Buckley, 31, and his girlfriend Beth South, 27, say they can hear sewage going through pipe outside their kitchen window.
Tim, a digital marketing co-ordinator, said: “It’s not so bad in the day time because all the building work drowns out the noise from the pipe, but at night it’s pretty loud. You can hear the water and waste being flushed around in the pipe. It is not a particularly pleasant thing to have to listen to when you're trying to relax in the evening.
“The pipe completely blocks our view from the house. We understand why it was put up, but we’re sick of it now. The hamper we got from Anglian Water before Christmas was a nice gesture, but the longer the situation goes on the more empty that gesture becomes.”
Another resident added: “My wife’s a light sleeper and she’s often woken up by the noises coming from the pipes. It’d be nice not be woken by the sounds of human effluent rushing past your front door.”
Anglian Water said repairing the underground pipe was a “complex” operation. Despite this, the firm said it was confident the repairs would be completed by the end of next month.
A spokesperson said: “Our teams are continuing work on the damaged sewer pipe on Ise Valley in Wellingborough. The advanced monitoring system we use detected the leak on the network at the beginning of December, and the quick response and expert engineering of our teams has meant we’ve kept services running uninterrupted for our customers since then, and protected the environment, by installing the temporary overground pipe.
“The engineering solution to repair the pipe is complex, due to its position and depth underground. We plan to rehabilitate the existing pipe using a method called sewer relining.
“The innovative technology means we will install a new robust lining to the inside of the pipe, essentially a ‘pipe within a pipe’, allowing us to minimise further disruption for the local residents, and ensure the integrity of the pipes for years to come. We anticipate that work will be concluded by the end of March.
“We’ve been in close contact with all local residents throughout and know this work has been hugely disruptive for them – we’re sorry for this. We’d like to thank them for their ongoing patience and understanding - keeping their facilities running and protecting the environment is our top priority. They can rest assured that we’ll keep working with them and Bovis Homes until the repair is completed and things are back to normal.”
