Lee Erwin’s garden is a disgrace.
Sand-bagged and cordoned off, it has been reduced to just a tenth of its impressive 100ft length due to daily floodwater that bubbles up through the grass and turns it into a sludgy, muddy mess.
Now Lee and wife Janet have had enough. After months of complaints to Yorkshire Water they are still waiting on a solution to the problem, thought to be caused by a cracked pipe somewhere above the site of their home in Lepton, Huddersfield.
Tests of the foul-smelling floodwater has revealed worryingly high levels of ammonia. But after several months of concern and frustration the Erwins are still no closer to reclaiming their garden.
“Yorkshire Water have been contacted on many occasions, “ says Lee. “I must have made 100 calls. They have dragged their heels from day one.
“The garden floods every single day. Sometimes it looks like a swimming pool. It’s horrendous. We can’t even walk out of our back door because of it.”
Investigations by puzzled Yorkshire Water staff appear to have drawn a blank. The Erwins say the best guess is that pipework somewhere above their home is cracked, allowing tainted water to run into a culvert which then “explodes out” into their garden.
Samples of the water have shown widely differing result.
“One man said it was ammonia clear. Another said, ‘Oh my God! The ammonia readings are sky-high!’” revealed Lee.
“We don’t know what to think. They are trying to tell us it’s not from a soil pipe, that it’s from a bathroom, kitchen or dishwasher. But I don’t want to be dealing with that.
“We don’t have children but we have two award-winning show dogs. They’ve both been ill. If we did have children I wouldn’t want them putting their hands in it, and then in their mouths.
“Yorkshire Water were going to send out a dredging team to deal with the smelly stuff but that was stopped as until other houses were affected it wasn’t worth me getting a clean-up.
“We bought this house for the garden and now we can’t use it. The flooding has ruined everything. Putting it simply, the water has something in it. I don’t know what it is but I don’t like it, and I’ve had enough. No one can tell me that is okay.”
Lee Pinder, Operations Manager at Yorkshire Water, said: "We have been
working hard to identify the cause of the flooding affecting Mr Erwin's
property and have now pinpointed and repaired the sewer which will
safeguard it for all residents on the street that rely on this essential
waste water service.
"As a goodwill gesture we have also offered to arrange for Mr Erwin's garden to be fully restored, so he does not have to incur this expense.
"We are committed to ensuring that our waste water services operate to their maximum standards and would like to apologise to Mr Erwin for the inconvenience caused."
