The sewers across our region are built to cope with normal rainfall conditions, with plenty of spare capacity on top of this. Nonetheless, they are sometimes unable to cope with the high volume of rain that results from storms or prolonged showers.
On such occasions, sewage can escape from manholes and pollute the environment. In severe cases, it can flood the inside of local homes.
During the year, there were 844 cases of flooding to homes and external areas caused by overloaded sewers, compared with 856 the previous year. A total of 223 cases were caused by severe weather, compared with 96 such incidents in 2008/09.
We continue to carry out engineering work to reduce the risk of flooding. In 2009/10, we alleviated the flooding risk to 1,212 homes and externally flooded areas. The total in the five years to March 2010 was 5,600, exceeding the target of 5,561 set by Ofwat in our business plan for that period.
| 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of properties and areas alleviated from sewer flooding | 647 (702) | 1,357 (1,375) | 1,497 (1,505) | 887 (874) | 1,212 |
| Cumulative | 647 (702) | 2,004 (2,077) | 3,501 (3,525) | 4,388 (4,385) | 5,600 |
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