Video: Water board to investigate after families left knee-deep in sewage (From Borehamwood Times)

Thames Water to investigate burst water main in Gateshead Road, Borehamwood

8:52am Thursday 7th February 2013 in News By Anna Slater

A water company will investigate why families were left with a “pond of toilet filth” in their gardens three times in the space of a month.

Residents in Gateshead Road were horrified when the water main broke, spewing a 15 inch fountain of faeces, tampons and toilet paper outside their homes three times since December.

They were also left disgusted when it took Thames Water 12 hours to arrive at the properties to clean up the mess the first time and more than 24 hours the second and third times.

A statement from Thames Water said: “We are sorry for the mess this has caused and will make sure a full clean-up is carried out.

“A CCTV inspection of the sewers in Gateshead Road will be carried out as soon as the heavy flows of wastewater drops.

“Once this has happened we will be able to do a full investigation into the cause of the problems.”

Earlier this week, residents told the Borehamwood Times they were worried this would happen again.

Yvette DelRoy, 51, said: “I am appalled by this situation because it is so obviously a health hazard. What if it gets into our tap water?”

“I am expecting it to happen again because Thames Water have no empathy. We are living in a ticking timebomb.”

Another resident, dad-of-two Tony Macken, said he also wanted compensation after the torrential water caused his garden gate to rot.