Thames Water has proposed a £17.5 million plan to build two overspill tanks to capture sewage and stormwater in response to customers demanding action to protect their homes from sewer flooding.
Maida Flood Action, a campaign group set up by local residents, has called on Thames Water to invest in the areas of Maida Vale and Little Venice to reduce the risk of sewage spilling into 200 west London properties.
The group has sent pictures of flooding to the company which show children’s toys floating in raw sewage in one home and a local restaurant owner struggling to clean up his property that was left knee-deep in waste water.
Jason Aldred, head of programme delivery for Thames Water, said:
"This is a big problem and it needs an effective and reliable solution. Sewer flooding is utterly miserable and these pictures show the devastating effects that heavy rainfall can have on our sewers.
"Nobody should have to live in fear that this could happen every time it rains.
"This isn’t a ‘nice -to-do’ job, the pictures show why this is an absolute ‘must-do’."
The proposed tank under Westbourne Green would be 20 metres deep and 20 metres in diameter and able to hold 6.3 million litres of wastewater – enough to fill two and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Another tank would be dug under Tamplin Mews Gardens. This one would be 15 metres deep and 15 metres in diameter with the capacity of 2.56 million litres.
Julia Neal from MaidaFloodAction (MFA), who campaigned for a solution to the flooding, said:
"We found many buildings had been flooded twice in three years, but others had been flooded between five and 10 times. The smell was horrendous and it takes months to dry out a flooded building, even using industrial dehumidifiers. These are noisy, hot and expensive to run.
"Different options were discussed at meetings and presented at public drop-ins and we think this is the best solution possible. It’s been carefully considered and has the least possible environmental impact."
Iain Tytler, project manager for Optimise – the contractors carrying out the work for Thames Water, said:
"We considered about 40 different sites before settling on Westbourne Green and Tamplin Mews Gardens as they were the most appropriate for this scheme.
"We’ve been writing to residents and inviting them to drop-in sessions to talk them through our plans."
The project is part of the £350 million Thames Water is spending across London and the Thames Valley to protect 2,500 homes from the risk of sewer flooding between 2010 and 2015.
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