An 88-year-old woman has been warned by Southern Water that she might “die” before a sewage leak in her garden is fixed, her son claims.
Daphne Hayward has been forced out of her home after she began to notice stagnant water and toilet paper rising from the drains at the end of last year.
The widow, from Lymington, Hampshire said the sewage water made a “mess” of her flowerbeds which were planted by her late husband Stan.
Southern Water have been unable to fix the issue and claimed one engineer suggested she may die before it was resolved.
An 88-year-old woman has been warned by Southern Water that she might “die” before a sewage leak in her garden is fixed, her son claims
Solent News & Photo Agency
The distraught great-grandmother would get “upset” when it rained and has now moved out of her home of 60 years due to the sight of the garden.
Daphne moved into her home with her council worker husband and their three children in 1964 and loved spending time in her garden.
But her only son Nick said the problem has caused his mother a “lot of stress”.
He said: “In February, it happened just over five times and we had two before Christmas. It just goes and comes back again. The beds are a mess, the plants are all lifted, and the furniture has all moved.
“There’s a white haze across the whole garden. It looks like a milky white solution and there’s toilet paper everywhere. It just looks like a slurry over the garden.”
Nick said the outdoor area had never flooded before last year and is an issue that is affecting other houses in the area.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The distraught great-grandmother would get ‘upset’ when it rained and has now moved into her daughter’s home
Solent News & Photo Agency
He added that the garden was a cherished place for his Mum, especially after her husband Stan died in 2009.
“She spent years out there when Dad was alive. It was lovely,” he said.
“My mum kept it going after my dad died… so it’s really sad. I have grown up there, we grew up in the house. I have lived there all my life.”
When the family asked workmen at the water company what was causing it, they said the pump was not big enough to pump everything flowing through.
However, the firm now insist the excess liquid has been caused by “blockages”.
The 63-year-old added: “My mum [asked the engineer], ‘Am I going to die with this problem?’ and he said ‘Yeah, maybe.’
The pensioner began to notice stagnant water and toilet paper rising from the drains at the end of last year
Solent News & Photo Agency
Nick Hayward with his mother Daphne Hayward who has been forced to move out of the home after 60 years
Solent News & Photo Agency
“My mum can’t live in sewage, every time she sees a bit of rain she gets upset. She spent years out there when Dad was alive.”
Daphne has now moved and is staying with her daughter on the Isle of Wight.
Southern Water – which has recently come under fire amid public criticism over recent sewage incidents – disputed that an engineer told the great-grandmother she would die with the problem.
A spokesperson said: “We’re sorry that customers experienced external flooding, our network was overwhelmed on Friday due to heavy rainfall and excess surface water.
“We’re investigating why these issues happened and seeing where improvements to our operations can be made.
“Improving our pumping stations is a key action in our Turnaround Plan (2023-2025) and we’re increasing resilience at more than 700 of our pumping stations and spending more than £40m on new pumps and control systems.”
Source Agencies
