Sewerage on Dyers Hill again

Fri 20 Nov 2020, 19:12

I doubt you'll get far, whichever method you use.  

The water companies were privatised by the Thatcher Government and most, if not all, are now owned by foreign companies.

"In the same year, research by the University of Greenwich suggested that consumers in England were paying £2.3 billion more every year for their water and sewerage bills than they would if the water companies had remained under state ownership."

See this ft article (hardly a left wing publication): https://www.ft.com/content/5413ebf8-24f1-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16

It is a fact that England is one of the few countries in the world which has allowed privatisation of its water supply.  The likes of Cambodia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea et al realising that the water supply to the population is paramount to safeguarding public health.  

Fri 20 Nov 2020, 18:54

If you use Twitter, then see the tweets from Feargal Sharkey, yes of The Undertones, he tweets about these problems daily. It seems the Environment Agency does very little in the way of fining for discharges of raw sewage into rivers/watercourses. Perhaps we should stop paying Thames Water bills, it might spur them into action. That of course is action far more extreme than 'writing a strong letter', which they can ignore, but turnover cannot be ignored.

Fri 20 Nov 2020, 10:52

having just walked my dog along the river by the sewage treatment works i noticed a TW man working on the outlet which spills directly into the river.Said outlet was gushing bad smelling dirty water so maybe this is their contingency plan to solve the problem!

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 19:29

What is the root cause of all the overflows in this area, if they have been divined, and could it be something that could affect other areas? I was disturbed on moving to Charlbury that the drains were 4 inch pitch and fibre which I had thought were only for use in agricultural drainage which I had installed as a mere youth!

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 17:21

Thames Water have a team working on it at the moment

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 17:09

David phoned Thames Water (tel no on the bills) this afternoon at about 1.30pm, after we noticed it on our way to Mill Field. He got through (after a wait) and they said there'd be someone out to fix it within 1.5hrs. So let's hope by now it is done!

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 14:50 (last edited on Thu 19 Nov 2020, 14:52)

"Bernie" has messaged me back as follows:
"I've checked our system The sewer overflow has been reported as a priority. We'll be there as quickly as we can - Bernie"

"The timesframe's by 4:30pm today - Bernie"

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 13:11

I have been given this number 0883169800 where you can make a full report including the exact location of the problem

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 13:10

There is a "Report a Problem" section of the Thames Water website here: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/report-a-problem

I think I reported a water leak from a manhole cover just down from Dyers Hill House this morning by this method but I see that my report is not marked on their map of problems at the moment.

This site gives a number to ring about sewage issues.

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 12:54

You need to private message them, this will get a response sooner because working from home they can have several people accessing the page whereas with email it's just the one. They'll take the information to email once they've started the conversation if necessary. 

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 12:19

And Hey Presto ... within 5 minutes of posting a message, it seems to have been removed. 

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 12:12 (last edited on Thu 19 Nov 2020, 12:12)

I have just left a message on the Thames Water Facebook Page. 

As that is "in the public eye", let us hope that there may be a response.

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 12:02

The contact I have is Huw Thomas but he is responsible for Local Government Liaison, not operations, however I have emailed him to ask if he can contact someone in operations who can sort this.  I've also been in touch with a couple of WODC officers to ask them to get in touch with TW. 

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 11:38

I'm having to deal with utility companies for my mother and I've found you get a much quicker response if you private message them on Facebook. Both SSE and British Gas replied almost immediately to FB messages whereas their online web chat on their webpages was really unhelpful and obviously nothing is happening using the phone. Also works for HMRC, if anyone needs to contact them. 

Thu 19 Nov 2020, 11:28

Has anyone got an email address for Thames Water? One that works! There isn’t one on their website and they aren’t answering the phones. There’s raw sewerage running down Dyers Hill again next to Victoria Cottages all the way into the river. I’ve tried reporting it but I’m not having any luck. I’ve copied in the EA and WODC says it’s a TW issue but I simply can’t get hold of them.