Residents have been left disgusted by the ‘horrible dirty drain’ smell pervading Chorleywood Bottom for months.
Neighbours slammed Thames Water over the lack of communication and coordination following reports received.
After numerous complaints Thames Water tried to fix the problem affecting the area from Chorleywood Bottom and streets around Capell Way but a permanent solution is yet to be found.
Thames Water claimed they initially did not find any issues, but after sending an engineer on September 22, a blockage contributing to the smell was found.
Kate Butler, one of the residents affected, spoke to ChorleywoodNews and said: “For me personally it began before the summer holiday. As my friend said it smelled like we’re in Spain, that horrible dirty drain smell you often smell when you’re abroad.
“You can tell it’s human wastage, it’s caused by fat, ghee being churned down the drain, it’s disgusting. Thames Water’s lack of communication about the whole thing was very disappointing.
“Individual residents were complaining, they (Thames Water) were acting about those complaints so they were sending engineers out, but they didn’t coordinate it. They were completely inefficient to try and resolve the issue.”
“When the issue started getting more awareness, they started being more proactive and they sent out a letter to residents explaining what they have done.”
Talking about Thames Water’s visit on September 22, Kate added: “They found the blockage and since then I have to say the smell has much improved, it’s not 100 per cent gone, but it’s better now.
“They need to get to the bottom of the issue and to hopefully make sure it’s not going to happen again. Other residents suffered way worse.”
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for the ongoing smell issues and understand how unpleasant this can be for residents.
“Following initial reports, we inspected and cleaned a section of our sewer network and found no issues.
“We visited the area again in late September to clean a different section of the network and found a blockage, which may have been contributing to the smell and was cleared straight away.
“We’re installing monitors inside the sewers in this area and the data from these will help us plan any further work that may be needed.”
The monitors were installed on the week commencing October 18 and will be in place for four weeks.
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