Flooded drains turning village into 'swamp' as families left without toilets or showers

Families fear their village is turning into a "swamp" after a flooded sewage system left them without working toilets, showers or washing machines.

Recent heavy rain on saturated ground has overwhelmed the drains in Tallington, Lincolnshire, stopping waste water from escaping the village for more than a week.

Many residents also fear part of the sewer is blocked or has collapsed.

Mervyn Franklin, 62, spent much of Thursday pumping water off his driveway to stop it reaching his house.

"There's too much water in the village and it can't get out," said Mr Franklin.

"The fundamental problem is the surface drains are not taking the water out of the village because they're blocked, or collapsed or whatever.

"The groundwater level is so high that the village is not functioning. Toilets, showers, washing machines, sinks - nothing is draining away.

"We're having to use an upstairs toilet which then fills the pipe up and doesn't do anything else."

Mr Franklin added: "We can't use our washing machine, our dishwasher. We can't have a shower or a bath because it's just going to come back up through the manhole covers on to the drive.

"We can't go to the toilet and flush the toilet at night, or any time of the day, we just go to the toilet and leave it. It's disgusting.

"We can't let our pets out. Until that's fixed we're going to be living in a swamp for the rest of our life."

Another resident, Carol Butler, has been using supermarket toilets for the last eight days.

She said the situation is causing her "incredible stress", particularly on Sundays when the supermarkets close at 4pm.

"I'm incredibly angry about it and upset," she said. "I feel that I'm living in a third world country.

"Someone has got to take responsibility and get this sorted because we can't carry on living like this."

Philip Sagar, chairman of Tallington Parish Council, said the village had suffered with collapsed drains for around eight years and blamed Anglian Water and Lincolnshire County Council for not repairing them.

"When it does rain heavily, particularly as it has over the past month or two, the water has got nowhere to go," said Mr Sagar.

"Consequently houses that shouldn't flood are flooding and toilets that should work are still not working two weeks after the flooding.

"In this day and age it's totally unacceptable to be told by Anglia Water they can't do anything about it.

"This village has never flooded like it has in the last six months in its history. Nobody can remember."

Gilly Franklin, who lives in Tallington, said the problems were taking a toll on her mental health.

She said: "My last child is about to leave for a mission trip next week and I can't do the washing for him to go.

"I've got another child who just came back this weekend who needs loads of stuff doing and I can't do any of that.

"I can't cook because I can't wash up. I can't get rid of any waste water anywhere.

"We can't even brush our teeth without worrying if that water is going to come back round the system."

Anglian Water said the drainage system in Tallington was working as it should, but was struggling to cope with the amount of water.

It added that the company had invested more than £390,000 in Tallington since 2021 to investigate any issues.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “The problems we’re seeing in Tallington are being caused by rain and surface water getting into the sewer network rather than a specific problem with the system.

"Our sewers are designed to take away the waste from homes and businesses, but the nature of what they are there to do, means they’re not sealed systems and excess rainwater and groundwater can infiltrate into them during prolonged or extreme wet weather.

"Drainage systems have many different owners, which is why we need to work with other partners like the council, the Environment Agency and land owners to resolve issues like these collectively."

A spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council said: "We’re sorry to hear that residents are still having issues with drains in their properties or toilets not flushing.

"Responsibility for waste water lies with Anglian Water, and not the county council. If there is an issue with Anglian Water’s drains, it is up to them to repair or upgrade them."

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