Thames Water has apologised after a “swimming pool of sewage” at an 84-year-old’s back door refilled hours after being cleared.

Yesterday (January 4), the Watford Observer reported that Thames Water had cleared a pool of foul water that had formed outside Joyce Malarkey’s South Oxhey home after a sewer became obstructed at the end of last week.

Thames Water engineers cleared the “disgusting” area before disinfecting it at around 1pm that day and Joyce was happy with the job, but just hours later the problem was back.

The water company has confirmed its engineers returned to re-clear the area at around 12pm today.

Describing the issue to the Watford Observer, Joyce said it “is absolutely disgusting, it stinks to high heaven”.

Being near what she ironically described as her “swimming pool” was apparently “unbearable”.

Watford Observer: The pool of sewage after it refilled.The pool of sewage after it refilled. (Image: Joyce Malarkey)

Her son, Dean O’Field, arrived at his mother’s house at around 7pm yesterday, by which time the returning water was nearly reaching the level of the cat-flat at the backdoor.

The family had to move her belongings out of the backroom and conservatory out of fear the rising sewage would breach through and get indoors.

“It has been exceptionally stressful for my mum and exceptionally stressful for my brother and me,” Dean said.

Watford Observer: Joyce's belongings moved away from the door and out of the conservatory.Joyce's belongings moved away from the door and out of the conservatory. (Image: Joyce Malarkey)

“Fingers crossed this is the resolution for the time being.”

The source of the problem is believed to have been an obstruction in a sewer in a nearby field, but Thames Water had been unable to clear it when they attended the issue on New Year's Eve.

The obstruction then left the water to flow down to Joyce’s garden.

Watford Observer: The swimming pool of sewage, the first time it filled up.The swimming pool of sewage, the first time it filled up. (Image: Joyce Malarkey)

In an update this afternoon, a Thames Water spokesperson said: “We were sorry to receive a further report of external flooding at a customer's property on Ashford Green earlier today.

“Our engineers attended as soon as possible where they cleared the pipework and cleaned up the affected area.

“Over the coming days, our teams will return with specialist equipment to carry out extensive investigations into the pipework and locate any possible obstructions.

“We’d like to apologise to those that have been impacted by this and would like to reassure them we are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”