Skip to main content
The Coate Water underpass is due to have a thorough inspection after a series of floods during the winter months. The sewer is located in Swindon and Thames Water has said that it will explore potential issues with the underpass.
According to the Swindon Advertiser, the water company agreed to inspect the sewer after it was contacted by South Swindon Parish Council, which raised concerns about its condition.
An infiltration study will now be carried out, which will involve looking at manholes, conducting camera surveys and checking the lining sections of the sewers.
Chris Watts, chairman of the parish council, told the newspaper that they felt they needed to contact Thames Water on behalf of local parishioners “as the number of times sewage was pouring out of the sewer was becoming a serious environmental health risk”.
Mr Watts added that the location of the Coate Water underpass is by an access route to the Coate Water Country Park, which means it’s well used. “It is used by cyclists and pedestrians alike and is also near to a green open space used by children for playing,” he explained.
If it discovers that there are problems with the structure of the sewer, Thames Water may need some assistance from pipe rehabilitation companies to fix the issues that are identified in the sewer system at Coate Water.
Thames Water has been dealing with a series of sewer problems during the UK’s nationwide lockdown, WWT Online recently revealed.
The company told the news provider that it has experienced a 20 per cent increase in the number of sewer blockages it’s having to deal with since the start of the lockdown at the end of March.
As a result, Thames Water has seen an additional ten sewer blockages per day, on average, compared to normal.
One of the reasons why the organisation believes there has been an increase is because people were using alternatives to toilet paper during the height of the panic buying just before and in the early weeks of lockdown.
It suggested that people had been flushing wet wipes, kitchen roll and even newspapers because they didn’t have toilet paper at home.
