Hampshire village fed up with flooding and pollution issues

Rising groundwater is affecting the cellars of Hambledon properties in Lower West and East Street and the football pitch and parts of Fareham Road are covered with a mixture of overflowing sewage and groundwater.

Despite the drier weather in recent days, groundwater levels, due to the surrounding topography and geology, will continue to rise until the middle of the week.

Flood warning for Hambledon (Image: gov.uk)

READ MORE: Councillor slams Southern Water for flooding in Colden Common

City councillor Danny Lee, ward member for Central Meon Valley, said: “Accelerating climate change with wetter weather is increasing flows of water into the foul sewer and overloading the system – it just can’t cope. This creates pollution in the countryside, on roads, in people’s homes and impacts our declining nature. Southern Water needs to stop this madness and urgently create planned upgrades to the drainage systems, the local pumping station and connections to the Wastewater Treatment Plants.”

At the beginning of the year, Fareham Road was blocked while holding tanks and road tankers removed sewage.

Cllr Lee believes the situation is beginning to repeat itself with Southern Water returning on Sunday, December 17 to start pumping out the sewage overflow.

Flooding in Hambledon (Image: Contributed)

Tersa Encke, Hambledon Parish Council chair, said: “Obviously it is great news that Southern Water are reacting.  Better news will be a plan to prevent this problem from re-occurring in the future.”

Over the past few days Hampshire County Council has tried to clear several tons of sediment from the ‘Big Pipe’, which was installed in 2016 to reduce flooding in Hambledon.

Residents expect the load on the ‘Big Pipe’ system to increase over the coming weeks.

Flooding in Hambledon (Image: Contributed)

SEE ALSO: Risk of groundwater flooding surfacing again in Hampshire

Ward councillor Malcolm Wallace said: “We do not want a regular recurring 2023 situation every year which causes distress and inconvenience for locals and commuting traffic. Neither do we want to see the unpleasant side effects of overflowing sewerage water on the local playing fields and in homes because the system is not fit for purpose.”      

Jan Jarvie, leader of the local Flood Action Group, said: “The perennial flooding problem creates stress for villagers and can lead to the closure of Fareham Road at short notice. We already have lifting of manhole covers allowing overflowing foul materials. The costs for hiring pumps, hoses and portable toilets plus the inevitable clean-up from flooding is just too regular and getting worse – the situation is just not sustainable.”

Meon Valley councillors Lee and Wallace said the city council is supporting Hambledon Parish Council to combat the issues and urging Southern Water to work with the Hampshire City Council Flood Authority to find a permanent solution.

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: “Ground water is a huge challenge this year to all the agencies involved in flooding response thanks to the wet summer, autumn storms and continuing wet weather. When the ground is waterlogged there is nowhere for excess to go.

"Southern Water is lining thousands of kilometres of sewer to prevent ground water forcing its way onto our system and we’re even lining customers’ private pipes with an innovative gel to stop water getting there.

"Other agencies must play their part. Uncleared surface water drains and rifes and streams allowed to fill with debris both make flooding more likely.”