A PONTYBEREM resident, whose home has become almost uninhabitable due to pollution from the sewers, faces a Christmas with the issues at his home still unresolved.
In our November 22 edition, we reported on the plight of Mr Nigel Davies of 38 Heol Y Llethryd. Mr Davies told us that his home had become the cesspit for the estate as raw sewage poured through his garden and onto the road below, following what he claimed at the time was a collapsed sewer pipe.
Mr Davies was offered the princely sum of £500 for the inconvenience of having to put up with the stench of raw sewage and the presence of foul waste in his garden.
When The Herald in visited in November, it is fair to say that we found it difficult to stick around the house for very long and politely declined a cup of tea on offer.
The Herald saw documented evidence of the couple’s attempts to get something done, having written to Dwr Cymru and Carmarthenshire County Council. In one letter, Mr Davies wrote to the Network West Manager of Dwr Cymru and said that he was becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of response from Dwr Cymru and that pumping the excrement out every other day was not an acceptable resolution.
Mr Davies said that tankers were visiting the property every couple of days to take away the waste. A pipe had been placed down a manhole on his property and, despite this, we saw sewage water cascading through the walls surrounding his property and out onto the road.
The tankers are still visiting the property and taking away the waste but now a two metre hole has been bored right outside the back door of the Davies residence and a conveyor belt runs down the path and into a skip.
The path is sealed off and they have to use a neighbouring property’s path to access their front door.
A mini digger works at the rear of the property while a JCB works at the front.
Mr Davies said: “These boys are marvellous. I can’t fault them. They are doing the best they can. The problem is that through no fault of our own, we are going to have to put up with this crap and the smell until Christmas and beyond.
“I have also reported what I believe to be sewerage entering the surface water drains and entering the river. NRW have been made aware of this and I have asked them to come out and put some dye into the hole beside my home to see if it comes out where I believe it is coming out.”
Speaking about what he expected from Dwr Cymru, he said: “Our lives have been made hell through this. The smell in the house is awful – it is in every room. The garden is ruined and the walls are going to crack and fall this winter. You have seen the mud and you have seen the mess. We should have just moved out of the house.”
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