Sewage has washed into a new housing estate after a nearby pump house stopped working.

The surface water soakway at Field View Road in Whitfield was completely filled up by 9am this morning according to an eyewitness and later he reported human excrement floating around.

Southern Water workers are at the scene and a tanker is en route to thoroughly clean the area.

A spokesman said: “We are aware of a failure at one of our pumping stations in Dover earlier today (Saturday, December 31).

“Our specialist team have already found and fixed the issue and a full clean up is currently underway.

“We have also dispatched a investigator to carry out a thorough investigation into the incident and will provide updates as soon as possible.

“We would like to apologise to local residents for any inconvenience and to reassure the public our crew is working hard to carry out any necessary clean up."

The resident, who does not wish to be named, said the three year-old estate at the bottom of Sandwich Road was built by Abbey Homes and the earliest residents occupied the homes in April 2014.

He added: “Originally we were told it was a back up for surface water.
“We’ve never had the issue with human faeces before.

Every time there is a downpour it does fill up, but I have never seen human waste floating about before.”

We have approached Abbey Homes for a comment.