Flats released sewage into river for 35 years

A Southern Water have started diverting the sewage from Upper Grosvenor Road

A block of flats has been illegally releasing wastewater straight into a river for more than 35 years, a water company has said.

Southern Water said it found the worst misconnection staff had ever seen at Royal Court on Upper Grosvenor Road in Southampton.

Ben Trinder, from the water operator's illegal connections team, said since 1989 it could have released 11 million litres of sewage into the River Itchen from toilets alone.

The company said it was now working to put the situation right.

Mr Trinder, who tracks the sources of contamination into surface water drains from homes and businesses, said: "I've never seen anything like this before.

"It can take a lot of work to track down one faulty connection but it's important work as a single loo can produce 20,000 litres of sewage a year."

'Off the charts'

He said in addition to the sewage, water from showers, baths, dishwashers and washing machines would also have flowed into the river.

"We knew we were on to something big as soon as we started sampling – the contamination was off the charts," he said.

The team lifted a series of manholes to trace the issue and eventually arrived at Upper Grosvenor Road.

"We put our CCTV camera down the surface water pipe and couldn't believe our eyes – rows of private sewage pipes were punched through the side and into the drainage pipe," Mr Trinder recalled.

"This pipe then runs straight into the Itchen."

Darko Zlatarek, the misconnections team leader, said the case was "on another level".

He described the Itchen as "such a sensitive habitat" and said Southern Water was "spending millions in the area to protect wildlife and support a council application for a new bathing water designation".

The company was hit with a £90m fine four years ago, after raw sewage was discharged across Hampshire, West Sussex and Kent.

Rows of private sewage pipes were connected to the drainage pipe

Usually it is the duty of householders to correct misconnections.

But Southern Water said the "scale and importance" of the find meant it was seeking the landowner's permission to fix it without charge.

Since the discovery the company has been pumping out the sewage before it reaches the Itchen and taking it away by tanker to be treated.

It recently signed deals worth approximately £540m to "boost" its wastewater network performance across the South East.

Its customers have been hit by the biggest increase in water bills in the UK, though chief executive Lawrence Gosden defended the decision to MPs earlier this year.

'Very disturbing'

Resident Chungching Tai described the situation as "surprising" and "awful".

"I take my children to the riverside park quite often and I see a lot of water activity over there, a lot of animals... people are sailing.

"It's no wonder sometimes it didn't smell very good."

Michael Tarcuta added: "It was shocking to hear, especially with the harm that's bringing to the environment. It was unexpected.

"It definitely doesn't sit well in the mind knowing that my waste is going into the actual river."

Teams lifted a series of manholes to trace the issue

Paul Vignaux, executive director for the Test and Itchin Association, said when he heard about the size of the misconnection his first feeling was "dread".

"I couldn't believe that something could go on for so long undetected," he said, adding that it was "very disturbing to see illegal connections of raw sewage piling into the river".

He said: "Sewage contains nitrates and phosphates and those lead to what's called eutrophication which is a reduction in oxygen in the river."

He said the Itchen was a "key area where salmon lay up on their migration up the river and that will physically halt them".

Phosphates in detergents were "equally as bad" as raw sewage because of the ammonia levels, he explained.

About 11 million litres of sewage could have been released into the river from the block's toilets since 1989

The 15 flats were constructed in 1989, prior to the creation of Southern Water.

A spokesperson for Southampton City Council said a building regulation application for the building's construction was made with the city council the year before.

"Unfortunately, because the application was submitted more than 35 years ago, we do not hold any site inspection records as such records relating to applications are only required to be kept for 15 years," they explained.

"The legal responsibility for complying with building regulations rests with the developer who undertook the work, who would also be responsible for liaising with Southern Water and connecting the drainage systems in the correct manner."

The BBC has attempted to contact the developer for comment.