Foul water is putting children at risk as waste flows from an inspection point, with pupils passing through it on their journey to school, according to local residents.

The spillage is coming from a service chamber on Christie Road and has been reported to Southern Water on multiple occasions.

Angus Cameron, who raised awareness through social platforms, described the problem as having persisted for a long time and said he had contacted Southern Water weeks before.

Mr Cameron said the effluent was entering the roadside drainage network and children were walking through it while crossing the road.

He appealed for councillor intervention.

Caroline Sains noted on April 11 that the discharge remained ongoing.

Kevin West filed a complaint with Southern Water on April 12.

The company replied on April 14, describing positive news that an engineer had cleared the blockage and that the system could now be used as usual.

A Southern Water spokesperson explained that teams dealt with a major obstruction in the Christie Road maintenance chamber on Monday, April 13. The spokesperson added that teams also tackled a blockage at Gundreda Road at the end of March, located nearby, after it had been present for several weeks, with work completed on March 30.

Southern Water said it has installed 32,000 monitoring sensors throughout its network to detect when blockages start forming. The company said this allows teams to remove obstructions before inspection chambers overflow.

Southern Water said the main causes of blockages are items that should not be flushed such as disposable wipes and feminine hygiene products placed in lavatories, as well as fat, oil, and grease poured down kitchen sinks.

Southern Water received the poorest performance rating of all water companies in Ofwat’s 2021/22 review, which examined pollution incidents, customer satisfaction, and water leakage.

The company was fined a record £90 million in 2021 after confessing to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges between 2010 and 2015.

In 2022, Ofwat ordered Southern Water to cut customer bills by £28.3 million after the company failed to meet targets including pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding.