Fears over poor flood protection take-up
Monday May 23, 2011
Fears that residents are not protecting themselves from the nightmare of basement sewer flooding emerged this week as Thames Water released figures showing just 1 in 10 are taking up an offer of a free anti-flooding device.
Only 45 households, of the reported 1,200 properties in the borough at risk from sewer flooding, are protecting themselves with an anti-flooding device – despite the offer of a free pump from Thames Water.
The water utility company says it has written to more than 600 property owners in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) and neighbouring Kensington & Chelsea, who have been most severely flooded in recent years, to offer them a mini-pumping station worth around £35,000 each.
Despite Thames Water’s offer to install the mini-pumps for free – which are known as flooding local improvement projects (FLIPs) – only 60 residents across the two boroughs have signed-up.
Cllr Nick Botterill, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Environment, says: “The anti-flooding devices are tried and tested technology and it is surprising that the take-up has been so poor. The council is doing everything it can to publicise Thames Water’s offer but ultimately this is an issue for the water company to sort out with unresponsive home-owners.”
The FLIPs take three weeks to install and test and prevent raw sewage backing up into low-lying properties during heavy rainfall as well as pumping out waste from inside the property into the public sewers. Thames Water has allocated £22 million to pay for over 600 FLIPs across the two boroughs.
Fears that insurance premiums could rise by installing a FLIP – when in practice the devices should reduce insurance costs – combined with a high number of absentee landlords could explain the poor take-up so far, according to the council.
Some residents – especially in Askew Road, Boscombe Road, Greyhound Road and Hammersmith Grove – have seen their basements flooded three of four times since 2004 and the council is backing Thames Water’s attempts to solve the problem.
Cllr Botterill concludes: “If the remaining FLIPs are not snapped up soon the worry must be that the offer may be withdrawn at some stage – leaving hundreds of properties defenceless from basement sewer flooding.”
The FLIPs are the short-tern solution to basement sewer flooding in the borough, according to Thames Water. In the longer-term Thames Water need to increase the capacity of the Counters Creek sewer, which would require funding approval from water-regulator Ofwat. It is believed that as many as 7,500 properties may be at risk of sewer flooding in H&F, according to Thames Water’s computer modelling.
Thames Water bosses will attend a public meeting, in the Small Hall at Hammersmith Town Hall, to discuss basement sewer flooding next month. Thames Water’s public meeting on basement sewer flooding starts at 7:00pm on Monday, June 6. For more information visit: www.thameswater.co.uk (opens new window) or call 0845 920 0800.
