In the morning we went into Dover. Mal found a new tablet for me, so we went to buy it. I don’t like Dover. We went into Morrisons and Asda and I couldn’t find half of the shopping I wanted and Dover town is really grotty. We rarely go there. So, we didn’t stay long.
Today I received a copy of the letter that was sent to my dentist from William Harvey Hospital which should have been sent to me in September! A bit contradictory as it says what good dental health I have and then it goes on! At the moment I have no pain in my mouth so I am reluctant to go anywhere at all even if I came to the top of their list!
Well, we now know the facts of Southern Water and the area around Sandwich(this was from someone who attended a public meeting with Southern Water today)……………………..
“So, have spoken to 3 lovely representatives from Southern water today who have explained the scale of the problem they are facing. I will try and summarise…..
Since November there have been 7 damaged sewage pipes in the area; 1 at the Viking ship in Pegwell, 2 at the jet garage in Pegwell, 1 at golf road in Deal, 2 on the A256 and one at the river in Sandwich by the pumping station there where all the tankers are going. All these pipes connect and all the sewage from Deal, Sandwich and Pegwell and all in between go to the same one treatment plant.
The section of the A256 that has been closed is a raised section of road above the damaged pipes. That bit of road is built with a sort of honeycomb structure giving extra strength to the road. However, the sewage/water that has seeped out before being cut off there has caused a crumbling of this and as such Southern can’t just dig a hole and fix the pipe and fill it in again there as the hole potentially could cause the side banks to collapse and thus the road to collapse.
The pipe under the river will cause obvious environmental and structural challenges to fix too. This repair may not be fixed for a long time due to the challenges.
In the meantime, all the sewage that can’t flow to the treatment works via the pipes under the A256 has to be collected at the station at the quayside in Sandwich and transported by tanker to the treatment works. Hence, the reason for all the tanker traffic. The alternative would be for many of the houses in Sandwich suddenly having sewage in them! I for one would prefer tanker traffic and road problems to poo in my house!
Southern water are aware of the potential extra traffic coming from Manston lorry park post Brexit. They are aware that Sandwich toll bridge may close for repairs ( but have assured me that this won’t happen until the A256 is back open).
They are liaising with Kent Highways for any solutions to the traffic on the A256.
This is one of the biggest incidents that Southern have ever had to deal with. It is costing £1 million per week to transport the sewage by tanker and more again to keep the A256 closed.
They are doing everything they can to get this resolved but the location of the pipes means this is anything but straight forward.
They cited the age of the old iron pipes as being the likely reason but it is very unusual and unfortunate for 7 incidents in the same network.
I hope this has explained some of the scale of the problem but I was very impressed with the people I spoke to today and know they are doing their best.”
Wow a million pound a week for the tankers!! AND the rest!
Thought for the Day – “You did not wake up today to be mediocre.”
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