Sewage stops river baptism

LANDOWNER Martin Dawson points out where raw sewage is flowing into the the river

Landowner and water company in row over responsibility

RAW sewage pouring into a Delph river has caused the village’s first submersion baptism to be cancelled over health-and-safety fears.

Two children from St Thomas’s Church were due to take the plunge in the River Tame on Sunday after choosing the unusual ceremony.

However, it was back to the font for the youngsters after a local landowner alerted the church on Thursday of the stinking sewage polluting the river upstream from the village.

The Rev John Rosedale, Vicar of St Thomas’s Church, said: “The river baptism would have been the first for myself and the church and we were really frustrated when we found out, but we couldn’t take the risk.

“There was no way we could test the water to see if it was safe. We didn’t let it get us down and the families had a great day, but it would be something to consider again in the future.”

The sewage is at the centre of a row between Martin Dawson, (70) a local man who owns a field in Delph, and United Utilities.

Five years ago Mr Dawson was forced to dig a trench in his field to install a new flood drain, which was supposed to direct excess water into the river, after his field became a stinking swamp with raw sewage emerging from the ground.

After years of wrangling with the water company over responsibility, Mr Dawson said a recent collapse in the main sewer that sent putrid waste spewing into his field, showed that it was not his pipe nor his responsibility.

He said: “The sewage is rank and it is flowing into the river. “At the moment it is not too bad but last week human waste and stinking sewage was gushing out of the pipe — I think it was half of the waste from Denshaw.

“They sorted out the blockage but not the catastrophic collapse in the sewer so this could happen again. It makes me so angry.”

United Utilities insist that it is up to Mr Dawson to sort the problem out himself.