RESIDENTS have raised a stink over untreated sewage which seeped into their gardens from manholes.

Gardens at a row of houses in The Valley, Hughenden Valley, have been awash with sewage since December 22, when the sewers overflowed into the gardens and parking areas by the houses.

Resident Dr Jeremy Carless said the smell was terrible. He said: "The worst smell is underneath the suspended floors in our house."

Neighbour Melvin Stigwood said sewage had been within an inch of getting into his lounge after a heavy downpour.

The houses are in the lowest point of Hughenden Valley. A pumping station, used by Thames Water to move sewage along the pipes, is further along the drainage system.

The station is working at full capacity but cannot cope with the high amount of sewage in the pipes, literally creating a backlog of waste which has come back to the houses and into gardens and parking areas.

Resident David White, who has trouble negotiating his way from the road to his front door because of the mess in his front garden, said that Thames Water had originally been slow to look at the problem but was now doing all it could.

Since Thursday sewage has been pumped out of the garden. But the solution is only temporary and another prolonged spell of rain will cause further problems.

Frank Shepherd, spokesman for Thames Water, blamed the high amount of rainfall in the past three months, which has caused water tables to rise and more water to enter the sewers.

He said: "Obviously it's extremely unpleasant. We have provided sand bags and pumped water away but there's not a lot we can do until the levels drop."

Mr Shepherd rejected suggestions that Thames Water was slow in taking action. He said that the water company was unable to pump the sewage away until there was a sufficient amount of sewage and once that happened after the thaw last Wednesday, an engineer came out the next day and sewage was pumped out of the gardens.