Cranleigh residents have been shocked to discover that raw sewage is flowing into a village brook from a number of properties in Cranleigh that are wrongly connected to surface water drains.
The Cranleigh Society has commissioned water sampling to identify the level of contamination and can now report that some levels of contamination are over 270 times the normally acceptable limit.
For a number of years (one resident reported that it was at least six) residents of Cranleigh have been informing Thames Water of an unpleasant smell and the sight of what appeared to be raw sewage entering a brook that runs along Knowle Lane in Cranleigh. The watercourse runs along one side of the site that was previously proposed for the Cranleigh Hospital.
Unable to get the problem resolved by Thames Water, residents approached the Cranleigh Civic Society four weeks ago for help.
A spokesperson for the Cranleigh Civic Society said “We took a look at the brook and it is immediately obvious from the smell and the presence of sewage fungus that significant amounts of sewage are being discharged into it from a nearby surface water drain.
The Government’s Water Framework Directive 2010 states that the level of ammonia in “good” rivers and streams should be less than 0.3 mg/l, and Tesco and Marks and Spencer both state that the presence of e coli in irrigation water used for “crops likely to be eaten uncooked” must be less than 1000 cfu/l, this seemed to be a reasonable basis to start from.
Samples of water from the ditch were taken and sent for analysis to an independent laboratory, South East Water Scientific Services, who found the ammonia level to be 270 times the limit and E.coli levels to be 24 times the limit.
E.coli and Enterococci which can indicate the presence of faecal solids and high levels of ammonium are representative of urine contamination.
The Cranleigh Society took our findings two weeks ago to the Environment Agency who immediately put the ditch onto their ‘Priority hot spot list’.
The EA advised us initially that they were working with Thames Water and had identified a property in Cranleigh High Street, where the raw sewage outlet was directly connected to the surface water drain instead of the main sewer. We understand that they have now served a 30 day notice on the property to get this problem rectified. The Society is getting regular updates from Thames Water as to their progress.
However, from the quantity of sewage entering the brook, Thames Water now believe that there may be more properties incorrectly connected. They now have a crew working overnight dye testing the system to see what is flowing into the surface water system. They now think they have identified a group of houses where the foul water drains are connected to the surface water drainage system. They will be carrying out further dye testing on each house to fully assess the situation over the next week.
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