Public meeting to discuss basement flooding
Tuesday June 15, 2010
Residents can scrutinise Thames Water's plans to minimise basement flooding at a public meeting next week following criticism that the water company is not doing enough.
Water utility bosses are finally taking action to prevent some basements flooding following consistent lobbying from residents. However, H&F Council has warned that Thames Water is planning to solve less than half of the basement flooding problems in the short-term.
The Counters Creek catchment covers much of the borough's sewer system and Thames Water says the earliest they can start building sewers to relieve the creek, which is the long-term solution to minimise basement flooding, is 2014.
Counters Creek is an old tributary of the Thames, which the Victorians incorporated into the sewer system and now flows underground. The Counters Creek sewer network handles the majority of the borough's sewage during heavy rainfall, as well as a large amount of storm sewage from as far away as Camden and Brent. The lack of capacity in the current system means that sometimes foul water ends up flooding into basements of low-lying properties.
In the short-term 600 'at risk' homes will have anti-flooding devices - which are know as flooding local improvement projects (FLIPS) - installed. The FLIPS prevent sewage 'back-surging' into basements in times of heavy rain and allow the property's sewage to flow properly into the sewer network. The FLIPs will initially only be installed in selected properties from August, where previous problems have been reported to them, according to Thames Water.
H&F Council has welcomed the move and is encouraging residents to take up Thames Water's offer but is also pushing the company to extend the programme to all properties affected by basement flooding.
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Environment, says: "Thames Water knows that some residents have endured the horrors of basement flooding three of four times since 2004 and they should be offering everyone who has been flooded an anti-flooding device not just the lucky 600 on a spreadsheet in their head office.
Thames Water has admitted that there are 1,400 homes on their flooding risk register and yet only 600 homes are being offered a solution.
"This means at least 800 homes are at serious risk of being flooded out if it rains heavily before 2023," continues Cllr Botterill.
Thames Water's own computer modelling also shows a total of 7,500 properties are potentially at risk of flooding during a one in ten year rain storm. In the longer-term, by constructing new sewers the capacity of the network will be increased which will take upstream storm water sewage away from the Counters Creek network and thereby reduce the risk of flooding locally. The £440 million scheme will take a minimum of nine years to develop and build.
Thames Water's public meeting on basement sewer flooding starts at 7:00pm on Monday, June 21 in the Small Hall at Hammersmith Town Hall.
For more information on the Counters Creek scheme visit: www.thameswater.co.uk/counterscreek (opens new window).
Report flooding now
If you have been flooded at any time over the past few years call Thames Water on 0845 920 0800.
Read the Thames Water letter here.
