Children walked to school through raw sewage this morning (Tuesday) following a leak which a local councillor claims is still not fixed after eight days.
Human waste spewed over gardens, footpaths and even reached Berriew Street following a problem to a sewer on Howells Drive which resulted in sewage being backed up throughout Welshpool’s largest housing estate.
And after eight days of banging the drum, Severn Trent have finally dispatched a team to solve the problem this afternoon with engineers still on site this evening.
“It has been absolutely horrendous,” said Councillor Phil Pritchard. “We have been asking for something to be done for eight days and it has got gradually worse. It came to a head today when children had to walk to school through it. It had spilled onto the pavement parallel to the estate, across the grass verge and onto the main road where cars were just splashing it everywhere. The problem just got worse because of Severn Trent’s lack of reaction to our initial reports.”
Responsibility for the sewers transferred to Severn Trent from Powys County Council last September but Cllr Pritchard says this incident shows the company is not ready to take on the responsibility.
“There have been pools of sewage everywhere,” he said. “The town council and county council have been onto them for days but only today they have shown up to confirm that the sewer has collapsed at the bottom of Oldford.”
Severn Trent said it was dealing with the problem and apologised for any inconvenience.
A spokesperson said: “Severn Trent contractors, Enterprise, are currently at the scene in Welshpool dealing with reports of a sewage leak. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to the local community.”