I thought I would drop a short update round as the incessant rain has continued to be, well, incessant. At least until the last few days.

This what I said at the beginning of February about the borehole near the pumping station:

“At the beginning of February 2026, the graph is on a steep upward slope, but we are still some way short of the 91 metre figure. Beyond the end of February and assuming we get some relief from this rain, then the stream may not rise at all and we also may not see the groundwater levels putting pressure on the sewage system. Maybe we will not see any sewage discharges this year also. “

To an extent I have to eat my words now, as a mere three weeks further on the gauge has hit 91.0m. This graph below run today covers a much shorter period of time and appears to show a more gradual rise in the levels, this is mostly because the graph is run over a shorter priod. But, you can see the curve is  flattening out. It reflects the fact that the rain has eased substantially and even stopped over the past few days.

I have taken a walk down to the pumping station field over this last weekend. The stream is running and I can see out on Valley Road that a spring is rising in the ditch just outside, wait for it, Spring Rising. So, it’s getting closer.

It’s approximately here that the stream crosses the road to Buildbase and is then culverted under the industrial estate and then emerges along the back of gardens along Valley Road. Will it start flowing further up? We’ll have to wait and see. Importantly, at the moment the levels in the sewage inspection pits remains low.

Thanks.

Paul Woodford

23 February 2026