THE torrential rain of the past year has caused problems for many, from farmers with ruined crops to people with flooded properties.
But an unwelcome effect for one Onchan resident has been a regular tide of effluent through his garden.
Andrew Leece, of Birch Hill Avenue, moved into the property he shares with his pregnant wife two years ago but the problem only really came to light over the past year.
The garden was so overgrown he was unaware at the time of the drain running through the land.
‘It comes down Birch Hill and does a 90-degree turn,’ he explained. ‘The problem is when we have really heavy rain, the water coming down it backs up and starts coming out through the manhole cover. The Water Authority has capped two of the drains so it comes up through ours now.’
Mr Leece added the problem had affected other houses nearby but measures had been taken to address it.
‘Maybe if I was paying rent rather than rates more notice would be taken of it,’ he said.
The torrential rain of the past year, he said, had produced a regular sea of sanitary towels, faeces and toilet paper welling up out of the manhole cover, creating a lake in his garden and spilling over into the lane at the back.
Attempts to seal the man-hole cover had only exacerbated the problem by forcing everything up through the drains adjacent to the house itself.
David Watt of the Isle of Man Water and Sewage Authority said the problem was caused in part by the expansion in the district, which meant more houses and more people feeding into an ancient sewage and drainage system designed to cater for fewer people.
‘We do know there is a problem there which we are investigating,’ he said.
‘The problem is, if we go for a simple solution all it will do is move the problem somewhere else rather than actually solving it.’
He said the were considering the best short-term solution until major work needed to address the problem could be undertaken.
‘We are considering all options,’ he said.
