Barnham: Village hit with 'tsunami of sewage'

Renford Marsden, who lives in Barnham, near Chichester, said that the village has been hit by a “tsunami of waste”.

He told The Argus: “Our lovely, quaint village smells of poo every day.”

Mr Marsden, who is in his sixties, has been supporting a fellow Barnham resident who has been made homeless after sewage flooded his home in Marshall Close following Storm Ciaran at the end of October.

The sewer which collapsed is in Barnham Road, and the road is completely closed while works take place.

Mr Marsden said Southern Water, the company in charge of sewerage for the village, “has lost control of the situation”.

He said: “With all these road closures, traffic is being diverted onto small country roads that cannot cope with the volume of traffic.”

Mr Marsden also said that fish in the nearby Barnham Rife are dying due to sewage in the water.

• READ MORE: Water firm spilt sewage 'illegally' on dry days

Dead fish in Barnham Rife (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

A spokesman for Southern Water said: “We are sorry for the impact that our work is having in the Barnham area.

“Homes at Marshall Close were flooded during Storm Ciaran, we’re investigating whether any of our assets had any impact on this, however the primary reason for this is the rife next to the homes had burst its banks. We’re continuing to offer support to customers who were impacted.

“We have been made aware of reports of dead fish at the rife next to Marshall Close and are taking samples and carrying out our own investigations into this.

“Elsewhere in Barnham our teams are repairing a collapsed sewer at Barnham Road which has resulted in a full road closure. This repair is proving to be difficult due to further issues we have encountered including a void under the road which means this work may take some time to complete. We’re very sorry for the disruption this is causing.

"Our teams are also repairing another sewer at Elm Grove in Barnham, this is a longer-term repair which will be to re-lay the sewer and this work will take place until the end of February.

“We’re working with the local council following wider flooding issues in the area since the impact of Storm Babet and Storm Ciaran. As part of this we have increased the number of tankers in use to reduce flooding of our sewer network in Barnham and Lidsey.”