Traffic lights have been installed as Thames Water is conducting emergency network repairs near historic homes in a village in Berkshire.
Lights controlling traffic have been put up at the junction of Church Road and The Street in Swallowfield while Thames Water conducts repairs to its sewage network.
The work is being undertaken to remove excess water from the village, with the lights being put up on Wednesday, January 14.
Contractors appointed by Thames Water using two sewage tankers to remove excess water to allow network repairs to take place.
The operation is being conducted by First 4 Drains, a company that specialises in unblocking and cleaning drains.
One of the workers on the site has claimed that the crews are conducting regular trips to sewage treatment sites in Reading and Basingstoke to get rid of the water.
The crew member explained: “There’s a damaged sewage valve, which is not helped by an ingress of water from the River Loddon.
“The water needs to recede so that a repair can be done.
“We have to manually take the wastewater and sewage for treatment.
“The timing is bad as the fields are waterlogged.
“We’re sending the trucks to Reading and Basingstoke sewage works, and we’ve been making about eight to 12 trips a day on average.”
The worker stated that the wastewater is being taken from a sewage pumping station at the junction of Church Road and The Street, which is part of the underground network that Thames Water is responsible for.
The installation of the traffic lights at the junction has been approved by Wokingham Borough Council, the highways authority for Swallowfield.
According to a listing on the roadworks on the Causeway One Network website, the traffic lights will remain in place until Tuesday, January 27.
A spokesperson for Thames Water said: “We are carrying out a repair and the tankers have been deployed to protect the environment.”
The council’s traffic and travel page states that the work is being undertaken as ‘urgent draw off of water’ is required to make repairs to Thames Water’s network.
The repair effort has been complicated as rainfall is adding to the River Loddon and the surrounding water table.
The junction of Church Road and The Street is situated near the Blackwater River, a tributary of the River Loddon.
