Sewage Action Group

The Sewage Action Group for the Lambourn Upper Valley (SAGLUV) was formed in 2024, bringing together the villages of Upper Lambourn, Lambourn, Eastbury, East Garston and Great Shefford to confront their common problems with sewer flooding by groundwater infiltration.

The prime objective is to communicate with Thames Water in order to secure clean sewers and a clean River Lambourn

All are in the catchment of the East Shefford Sewage Treatment Works, but it has been recognised that there are two separate sewage networks at the upper end of the Valley, the Lambourn & Upper Lambourn (LUL) network, and the  Eastbury, East Garston & Great Shefford (EEGS) network.

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If you have any queries related to this update, or wish to report any incident of concern, please feel free to contact your local SAGLUV representative:

• Andrew Gorton (Eastbury) villagewardens@eastbury.org
• Martyn Wright (East Garston) martynwright345@btinternet.com
• Louisa Freeman (Great Shefford) greatsheffordpc@hotmail.com

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SAGLUV Update 7th September 2025

Martyn Wright reports:

Well, that glorious summer flew by!
So, time for another update, and you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s a positive one.

Our Spring Report detailed the improvements that had been made to the sewerage network, but also highlighted some other problem areas that had been found.
We recently met with Thames Water’s Regional Operations Team to review the latest progress on the necessary remedial work they have planned.
We don’t have exact dates and detail yet as these are being finalised with contractors, but we will be informed as soon as these plans are complete. However, the very positive headlines are as follows:

Although Upper Lambourn and Lambourn are not strictly within SAGLUV’s remit, as Lambourn PC deal with their issues directly, Lambourn sewage network feeds directly into East Shefford Sewage Treatment Works, which is covered by SAGLUV. Therefore it is helpful to know what is going on at the top end of the Valley to see the full picture.

In Upper Lambourn, despite 1,450m of relining being completed and numerous manholes sealed in 2024, significant infiltration and sewer spillage was again experienced in 2024/25 and tankers needed to be deployed. However, on the positive side, the Lambourn ATAC filter unit was deployed for a shorter period of 6 weeks compared to 26 weeks in winter 2023/24. There were no major sewer issues in Lambourn, but there was at least one spillage event caused by a blockage of wet wipes and other unmentionables in the foul sewer network.

We understand that the 2025 surveys found three major faults in the network in Upper Lambourn, which were letting in large volumes of groundwater. Plans are now being made to repair them. In addition, other points of infiltration are suspected in Upper Lambourn, possibly including leaks in private drains. These will be fully investigated when groundwater conditions allow. The Lambourn ATAC unit will be installed, and ready for use again this winter, as a precautionary measure.

We in SAGLUV are cautiously optimistic that the works outlined in this report will get completed, which will take us a few steps further towards achieving our objective of “Clear sewers and a clean river”. It’s taking time, and no doubt further infiltration points will be found along the way when the groundwater levels make investigation possible, but we are already in a much better place than we were.

We’ll get there in the end. But it’s a bit like the old question ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ and the answer…. ‘One bite at a time!’

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SAGLUV Update – 13 June 2025

Martyn Wright reports:

Sewage Action Group for the Lambourn Upper Valley (SAGLUV) covering Eastbury, East Garston and Great Shefford, and now……Weston!

Spring 2025 Report

Now that groundwater levels are subsiding after the winter highs, we can breathe more easily, and take this opportunity to review how we fared with sewage flooding issues during the high risk period of the last six months.

Some of the points this report contains, you may have seen in previous updates, however, together with some new developments that have occurred in the last few months, they are included here to give a more complete picture, in particular for those reading about SAGLUV for the first time.

Summary:

For Eastbury, East Garston and Great Shefford, it’s been good news. The last six months have been mainly trouble free, despite groundwater reaching levels higher than when we started needing tankers and the ATAC filter unit in winter 2023/24. However, the sewers were full for many months and there were some close calls on a few occasions. These were caused by either brief heavy rainfall, or blockages which needed one or two tankers for a few hours. There were no major spillages, and limited problems with sanitary facilities.

Although the ATAC filter unit in East Garston was installed and ready, in the end it was not required, and there were no prolonged tanker runs in any of the three villages either. It appears that the relining and manhole work carried out by Thames Water in summer 2024 was largely successful.

There were other factors that contributed to the positive result: The EA weed cutting in Eastbury helped greatly by keeping the river in its banks, and the Eastbury and Great Shefford Flood Alleviation schemes may well have helped avoid sewer manholes from being submerged. West Berks Council’s efforts with ditch and grip clearing also played their part.

Encouragingly, TW carried out further intensive camera surveys of their infrastructure to find more infiltration points which will be addressed this year. TW acknowledge that with the aging sewerage infrastructure, there is not a “one fix” resolution, rather a recurring process of investigation, finding leaks, repairing, investigation…. and so on. However, 2024 saw some major steps being taken.

Although for the upper villages the outcome has been positive, further downstream, problems have been encountered at the East Shefford Sewage Treatment Works, and particularly in the village of Weston. This will be covered in detail in the main body of this report, but we are delighted to announce that Dan Rampton has joined SAGLUV to represent Weston, as that village is now included in our remit. We can also confirm that 500m of sewer relining in Weston is imminent.

Although outside of the scope of SAGLUV, it was encouraging to see that the sewage issues in Lambourn also saw an improvement, with only a few isolated spillages, and the ATAC filter unit being utilised for far fewer weeks than previously.

We are cautiously optimistic that with the further development of the new Thames Water Wastewater management structure, which started to be implemented last year, and the priority given to the Lambourn Valley, real progress is being made in resolving our sewage issues.

To read the full report, click here.

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SAGLUV Update – 19 January 2025

Martyn Wright reports:

Our last SAGLUV update was issued in November 2024. Two months seems a long time for a follow-up, but in truth, the situation hasn’t changed very much, which in some ways is a relief!

We said then that the impact of the various relining and repair works carried out by Thames Water during the summer and autumn, could not be fully assessed until the groundwater levels rose to cover the sewer pipes. Since November, those levels have been rising, sufficient for the EA to issue a groundwater flood risk alert, but not really high enough for a thorough test of the work. During the last few weeks the levels plateaued, but have just started to show a slight rise again, so no real test yet.

However, there are some positive signs! TW assure us that their monitoring, and comparison of data from previous years, has shown the 450m of relining and sealing work in Eastbury has reduced the ingress into the system. This has a positive effect, not only in Eastbury, where no sewer problems have been reported yet, but also down through the network in East Garston and Great Shefford. As stated above, it is difficult to assess the full impact until groundwater levels rise further.

But we have to be cautious. In East Garston there is still evidence of some groundwater ingress resulting in some higher than normal levels in the sewer, but generally, the pumping station is coping with it. There is however a problem when we get heavy rain and surface water run-off from roads and house roofs fill the part charged sewer pipes, leading to temporary backing up. The ATAC filter unit is installed ready to be switched on when necessary, but that hasn’t been needed yet, and the EA do not permit the unit to be used unless there is a spillage, or an imminent spillage that will go into the river.

To put it into perspective, in EG the groundwater level is already higher now, than it was in early winter 2023/24 when tankers had to be used, followed by the installation of the ATAC unit. So again, there is cautious optimism that we are in a better place than we were last year.

In Great Shefford, the flood alleviation Scheme is not yet complete, but a temporary solution will be in place to avoid the flooding that has been experienced in the past. It is hoped that this, and the relining work, will also help prevent the sewer flooding that was suffered last year. There have been no reports of problems yet.

SAGLUV Meeting with Thames Water/Lanes 13 December 2024

All of the above observations support the information that we were given at our meeting with Tessa Fayers, TW’s Director for Wastewater, Ty Harling, Operations Director for Lanes Contractors, and Jenny Pearson, the newly appointed Thames Valley Regional Manager, for TW.

TW confirmed that the planned relining and sealing work had been completed, and that regular follow-up inspections would made to assess the impact, and to look for other ingress points, as the water table rose.

At our previous meeting with the TW/Lanes team, we in SAGLUV had expressed our concern about the efficacy of some of the Lanes and other Contractors teams who were often the “face” of TW to customers. TW/Lanes committed then to return to the subject at this November meeting, and this they did. From their response, we believe that they have taken on board a number of the points we had made. We have certainly seen a lot more inspection and monitoring activity in our villages over the last month.

They explained that, each autumn, TW and Lanes draw up a very detailed “Winter Plan” that covers all aspects of the contract work to be carried out. This includes: the planned work, contingencies, resourcing, customer relations and communications, and many other relevant operational topics.

TW/Lanes shared the detailed content of this plan with us, some in confidence, and although it is common knowledge that TW are faced with severe financing challenges that impose limits on what can be done, we were left in no doubt that TW and Lanes have in place an extremely comprehensive plan that covers all foreseeable, and possibly unforeseeable, eventualities.

One of the most encouraging aspects that came out of it is that our upper part of the Lambourn Valley is very high on their list of priority areas, with several of our locations noted as “hot spots”. TW have told us this before, but to see it in black and white in an important planning document, certainly reinforces it. And the fact that this was the third meeting we have had with Thames Water’s senior director who is responsible for Wastewater throughout the whole of TW’s domain, including London, is also an indication of just how much focus they are putting on our small area. We are convinced that any failings that may occur this winter will be down to TW’s financial limitations rather than attention.

Click here for a summary of the Lambourn Valley Flood Forum meeting on 13th January 2025

Now we just have to wait and see what is happening with groundwater levels. These are notoriously difficult to predict and we are seeking the latest forecast from the experts.

Fingers crossed for no significant increase, but we have to admit that hasn’t always worked in the past!

As always, please report any sewer or pollution problems to:
Thames Water: Sewage and wastewater flooding | Contact us | Thames Water  or 0800 316 9800

Environment Agency: Report an environmental incident – GOV.UK  or 0800 80 70 60