26 January 2009
A scheme to alleviate flooding at several homes in the area of Cherry Close, Kidlington, is under way.
The £1.4million scheme will help protect 21 properties, which have previously suffered from sewer flooding during heavy rainfall.
Work includes the construction of a new underground storm water sewer and storage tank to deal with excess flows resulting from heavy rainfall and a new sewer system to divert surface water away from the area. A nearby pumping station will also be upgraded.
Peter Taylor, Project Manager for Thames Water, said:
"Residents in Cherry Close have suffered from the misery of sewer flooding for many years.
"The impacts of climate change, population growth and development are putting increasing pressure on the sewer network. This essential scheme will help protect these residents from flooding and give them peace of mind at times of heavy rainfall.
"As with any works of this nature, short-term disruption is inevitable, but the long-term benefits for the community will far outweigh this. We will do everything we can to minimise disruption as much as possible."
Work is scheduled for completion in June 2009. Residents can find out more about these works by calling Thames Water's Customer Centre on 0845 920 0800, quoting reference BB827789.
Thames Water is committed to reducing sewer flooding. In the long-term, the aim is to virtually eliminate flooding resulting from lack of capacity in the sewers. Thames hopes to move towards this aim with its largest ever investment programme. These proposals have been submitted as part of the company's business plan for 2010 to 2015 to its economic regulator, Ofwat. Thames Water is currently investing £320million on sewer flooding alleviation schemes to help protect 10,000 properties by the end of 2010.
