Sir

I would like to echo the frustration of the Penally resident who wrote about their sewage problems in last week’s edition of your newspaper and the lack of help out there to solve this kind of problem.

By coincidence on the day I read this letter I had spoken with an environmental health officer on behalf of my elderly parents about sewage water possibly leaking from a neighbour’s cesspit (either overflowing because it is rarely emptied or it has been modified to drain off water to reduce the number of empties required), the deliberate drainage of rainwater via hosepipes fitted into downpipes (photographic evidence of this was not deemed acceptable) and potentially, grey water from a washing machine, all draining on to my parents property which is downhill of the probable offenders.

Apparently, the stench of sewage or grey water is not enough evidence for environmental health officers to find out what is going on.

Neither is the fact that during very wet weather in 2018 the fire brigade had to be called to prevent my parents’ house being flooded with water which visibly had sewage in it. When it is raining heavily you can imagine how worried they get and how many sleepless nights this has caused for the whole family worrying about their safety.

For any investigation to happen this all has to be witnessed in person by an environmental health officer, something that has proved impossible to achieve so far.

My parents are in their mid-80s and are really stressed by this issue and their home has become unhealthily damp. The problem has been going on for many years, and not only for my parents in their small community.

I believe the council has a responsibility to its citizens to take action on this common problem as soon as it is reported, it is after all a serious health risk.

In my view, the problem for my parents has been caused in part by the council allowing too many new houses to be built in an area with no mains sewerage system, not monitoring cesspits and septic tanks, allowing the inadequate piping in of the main drainage ditch along a country lane and allowing the level of the road surface to rise with every re-surfacing so that it is now higher than house driveways.

Along with wetter weather brought about by climate change, this has been a recipe for disaster.

Time to get your sewerage act together Pembrokeshire County Council.Name and address supplied