£20m sewage flood plan announced

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A £20m plan to help prevent sewers flooding in Portsmouth has been announced by Southern Water.

The 10-point plan includes a new pumping station at Eastney, a complete survey of the sewer system and refurbishing Pier Road Pumping Station.

Also rain water will be separated from foul water before it reaches the sewers and improvements made to sewer networks in the most threatened streets.

The Hampshire city has suffered two major flooding episodes since 2000.

The limitations of the infrastructure, particularly the ageing sewerage system, have contributed to [Portsmouth's] vulnerability Councillor Alex Bentley

Councillor Alex Bentley, executive member for environment and transportation, said the city council welcomed the plans.

He said: "Portsmouth is vulnerable to flooding, as we unfortunately saw in 2000 and, to a lesser extent, in 2006.

"The limitations of the infrastructure, particularly the ageing sewerage system, have contributed to this vulnerability.

"We therefore welcome news of this investment by Southern Water, which aims to tackle many of the problems we have been talking to the company about."

In 2000, flash floods in the city swamped homes and businesses, caused power cuts and flooded a pumping station, triggering the release of untreated sewage.

Streets were inundated by waters up to 5ft (1.5m) deep when the equivalent of a month's rain fell in just one day on 15 September.

In September last year, heavy rainfall again caused flooding in the city.