Environment Agency officers were spotted taking samples at Thames Water’s sewage treatment plant off Peep-O-Day Lane between Caldecott and Drayton earlier this week.
One resident, Martini Callaghan, said she saw it spill into the drainage ditch which runs along the National Cycle Route 5.
She also said there is a smell in the air from the spillage.
Sewage along the ditch adjacent the cycle path (Image: Martini Callaghan)
Meanwhile, the Green party has urged for immediate action while describing it as a risk to public health.
South Oxfordshire district councillor for Sandford and the Wittenhams Sam Casey-Rerhaye described the spillage as “shocking”.
She said: “I have also seen sewage scum in the Thames near here in the last couple of days and this stream is another Thames tributary.
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“It is unacceptable for Thames Water to use our environment as a dumping ground to save themselves the cost of treating our waste water properly.
“This looks like some of the worst scenes from the Channel 4 docudrama ‘Dirty Business’. I want to know what Thames Water are going to do about this.”
Sam Casey-Rerhaye, South Oxfordshire councillor (Image: Culham Parish Council)
Investigation van leaving (Image: Martini Callaghan)
Aidan Reilly, a Green campaigner and candidate for the Abingdon Abbey Northcourt by-elections, said: “I am disgusted by this massive sewage release which is just lying around next to the well-used Peep-O-Day Lane cycle route and footpath.
“This is a health risk to Abingdon’s residents and deadly to the wildlife in the brook. We have called on Thames Water to urgently clean this up.
“It must not be left next to the public path and it must not be left to wash into the Thames.”
The Green group said it has urgently contacted Environmental Health and Public Health officers as this “likely poses immediate health risks” to residents.
It’s not clear when the spillage happened or what has caused it, or indeed what damage it may have caused to the environment.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “Specialist officers have taken water samples and are investigating for any effect on fish or other water life after a report of suspected pollution in Odhay Hill Ditch, a tributary on the River Thames, near Abingdon, on Monday.
“Their job is to find out the source, what happened and why, and take appropriate next steps.
“Anyone with information on this incident or any concerns about our waterways is urged to contact the Environment Agency’s 24-incident hotline: 0800 807060.”
Thames Water has been contacted.
Dirty Business has been airing on Channel 4 this week, a new docudrama exploring stories of people who believe their lives have been destroyed by sewage-polluted water.
The series features Ash Smith who lives in Oxfordshire. He had begun investigating the River Windrush being polluted alongside his fellow campaigner Peter Hammond in west Oxfordshire in 2016.
The campaigner co-founded the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) group.
The story of the pair’s investigation has been turned into the three-part series.
