Last night (Wednesday 12 June) in the Assembly Room (upstairs) at the Town Hall it was almost standing room only. Residents came to hear – and be heard – by the Town Council and representatives from the Environment agency, Wiltshire Council and Thames Water. Each of the Agencies involved in the issue of a flooding, as the town experienced on Friday 5 January this year.
We heard from Mat Lloyd of the Environment Agency, Rachael Followell-Mattin (Customer and Stakeholder Manager) and Andrew Taylor both of Thames Water and Danny Everett, Principal Drainage Engineer for Wiltshire Council.
Matt Lloyd’s presentation was fascinating. He chronicled the build-up of rainfall and ground water levels over preceding months. Showing how the water table had reached an almost unprecedented level so that when ‘Storm Henk’ passed through on the Thursday 4 Jan, the ground couldn’t take this sudden downpour (over 30mm of rain fell – and as each 1mm of rain, that equates to 1 litre falling on each square metre of ground – 30mm equates to 30 litres) so the water had to go somewhere, and it found the River Kennet. And flowed downstream, and Marlborough flooded.
In his view it was an ‘extreme weather event’. But caused by a long term accumulation of water due to the almost incessant cycle of storms across predecing months. Will it happen again? No-one can actually say, many ‘climate change deniers’ will probably say ‘no’, but scientists, meteorologists and those directly involved in forecasting and planning for future events say yes. But they can’t say when, or to what degree but the extra energy in ‘the system’ means that more water is taken into the atmosphere than before and it has to go somewhere. And that somewhere is downwards onto the surface of the earth. So his message was ‘plan’ and ‘prepare’.
The Thames Water representatives were a bit more ‘explanatory’ about dealing with water run-off and sewage. Of course, all the STWs (Sewage Treatment Works) can discharge overflow directly into the adjoining river, and are legally allowed to do so. But that seems to be happening now more than ever before. They also explained the extent of the system and where the sewage came from – as far as south of Chiseldon, flowing alongside the River Og (by pipeline) and eventually to the STW by Elcot Lane.
The presentation was almost a bit defensive – Thames Water have come in for massive criticism of late as many rivers in their area (the Kennet is just one) have become dumping grounds for raw untreated sewage. An observation of their ‘pitch’ was that the explanations and justifications provided seemed to have been subjected to a far greater degree of ‘treatment’ than what they pump out into the Kennet……
Later questioning, in the Q & A session that followed the presentations, many questions / comments were made but they were unable to provide answers then, for a variety of reasons, but agreed to do so in writing later. It is now widely recognised that Thames Water are short of money for investment. They claim that they are investing in updating their dilapidated infrastructure. That is clearly not up to the standards needed but as we have found out they have been almost cleaned out of investment capital by some major shareholders in the form of dividends, which were mainly funded by excess borrowings, which the organisation is now saddled with, leaving us, their customers, to fund any required investment (plenty!). We pay, the shareholders take.
Wiltshire Council – quite different. Danny Everett addressed what they had been doing, noting the grants given to residents and business affected in the form of ‘Community Recovery’ grant – residents, and ‘Business Recovery’ grants – businesses, and also ‘Property Flood Resilience’ grants to residents to help alleviate any future such damage). Wiltshire Council are working with the community, with Operational Flood Working Groups to help prepare for such future flooding incidents. Where, what, and how.
Many questions were asked in the Q & A session that followed the presentations. Many addressed to the Thames Water representatives, but as noted above they were unable to provide answers there and then in most cases. One Kelham Gardens resident raised another acute real sewage pollution situation that was outside what Thames Water were talking about. They cited the fact that whilst Kelham Gardens wasn’t flooded by the river, the manhole covers lifted and raw sewage poured out, which then ran down (of course, completely untreated) directly into the River Kennet. Not something acknowledged by Thames Water, but (yet) another way that the sewage was getting out.
To many of us, remembering years gone by, the Kennet was a (relatively pure and clean) chalk stream. Sewage? Never. Times have changed…..
Regarding the cause of the flood, Mat Lloyd of the Environment Agency was somewhat sceptical and dismissive of the claims (conspiracy theories) regarding the Marlborough flooding being due to sluice gates being opened and releasing lots of water. He said – no. One questioner, who noted that they were from the upper stretches of the Kennet, recounted the unprecedented level of flooding upstream of Marlborough on the evening of Thursday 4 and morning of Friday 5 Jan. Never witnessed before in a generation, much deeper, and at a level that was far above the level that any of the sluice gates between the source of the Kennet (north of Silbury Hill) and Marlborough town, so water just flowed over and beside any such gates. The questioner asked if they would or could have made any difference – Again, his answer was categorically ‘No’.
The flooding followed months of heavier rain than normally experienced, and was instigated by one major storm (designated ‘Henk’). Flooding hit low lying areas of Marlborough – The Parade, Kennet Place, London Road – and the areas around these locations were suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of water, coming down the Kennet, and were flooded.
It was a shock to just about everyone in the town but to some, who were immediately and catastrophically affected it was far worse. Homes were suddenly under water and had to evacuated. Some of those affected are still trying to get back in after the ‘drying out’ and necessary remedial works completed. It was unexpected and many were unprepared.
But the Marlborough community came through at its best. Residents came out and helped, the Town Council team did what they could, delivering gel packs to prevent the worst of the water coming in to houses, managing traffic, people, and opening the Town Hall to all as a place of refuge. The community was there to help, and many did. But one thing was clear in the aftermath, there needed to be a greater level of preparation, in case of any such future event affecting the town.
At last night’s meeting residents heard from Town Clerk, Richard Spencer-Williams about the work and planning that is being put into place in case we get a repeat. A Working Party was established in the days immediately following the flood and the Town is far better prepared to deal with such a future emergency, as far as is possible. Flood Wardens have been – and are still being – recruited, stocks of gel packs are now being kept at the Town Hall – near to these low lying parts of the town and a planning for any such future eventuality is well underway.
The Merchant’s House Open Gardens – nineteenth annual event on Sunday 23 June
