In response to concerns from residents and pressure from councillors, Thames Water has confirmed that an assessment has been carried out on the sewer line from the junction of Osler Road and St Andrew’s Rd. as priority. Rodent tracks were found in the line, and a series of three operations will be carried out in the first half of August by contractors to descale and clean out three sections of the sewer line.

This will be done by first of all pumping out residual liquid from each of the manholes affected, if there is a lot of pumping involved this may need a vehicle the size of a tanker on site.

Then 400-500m of sewer pipe will be cleaned out by chain jetting – this is a water hose device which has a propeller on the end with chains attached, so that it can cut through fat and grease. The sewer pipes from Osler Rd to the middle of Old High Street will be completely emptied of fat and debris using this method.

A leaflet drop will also be made to inform people of what can and cannot be poured into drains

Rat baiting will  be carried out at the affected section of sewer  before chain jetting is used.

Thames Water will inform us when dates are finalised. We have asked about the timing of the work: sometimes this is performed at night-time to reduce risk of traffic problems, but we know that many of our residents in Ivy Lane work night shifts. If the tanker is needed, then there will be more noise, and the clean-out will happen during the day. We shall update the blog with details as we get them.