A SEWAGE pipe burst in Willersey yesterday morning.

Severn Trent Water were alerted to the burst pipe and immediately began working round the clock, using a stream of tankers to remove sewage from the damaged sewer pipe on the B4632 in Willersey, near Broadway.

Craig Bayliss, waste water service delivery manager for Severn Trent, said: "We were alerted to the burst pipe and we sent teams out to investigate straight away.

"When we had a good understanding of the situation, we got straight to work by mobilising tankers to take the waste away from the burst to another place on the network, where it can continue on its journey to the sewage works.

"We’ll continue with this tankering operation, working around the clock, until the pipe is fixed and we can get everything back to normal. If everything goes to plan we expect the repair to be complete and tankers to be stood down by Tuesday.

"Local residents will have noticed the tankers travelling back and forth, and we understand that this will cause some traffic disruption, especially with the other work ongoing in the area.

"We’d like to apologise to anyone affected by this work, but it’s absolutely necessary to do this to avoid the sewage leaking into the area and causing flooding and pollution for our customers.

"People may also notice a smell, and again we apologise for this, we know it’s not nice. We’ll keep local people informed of what we’re doing and we’re really grateful for their understanding and patience."

In October, Severn Trent Water started work on a £1 million investment to build a brand new pumping station and new, larger sewer pipes, in Badsey Lane and Collin Lane, Willersey.

Mr Bayliss added: "The pumping station and sewer pipes that serve our customers in Willersey are, at the moment, old and need replacing, as today’s burst shows.

"Our teams are working hard on this now and the work is expected to finish next summer."