FURIOUS residents have been hit by a sewage flood for the third time this month.

A burst pipe left dirty water flowing down the road and into a nearby river at Alresford, near Winchester.

Thousands of pounds of damage was caused to three cottages in The Dean, in the first week of January, when a fractured main and an electrical fault caused sewage from a Southern Water pumping station to spill into their homes.

This time no sewage got into the cottages but residents are demanding that action is taken to prevent any further escapes.

environment Agency experts were called to test water conditions in the River Arle, where much of the sewage ended up.

They found that because it had been heavily diluted by recent rainwater it had very little, if any, environmental impact.

Christopher Harris and his wife Wendy are still clearing up the mess from the earlier incidents which brought five inches of stinking water into their home.

Mr Harris, 61, said: "I looked out and said 'Oh, crikey not again'. Fortunately, none of it came into the house. But it is not very pleasant.

"Southern Water have not been as concerned about these problems as I would like them to be.

"I told them to test the system and they have assured me that they will pressure test the whole thing.

"The system is obviously failing as it has happened before, so we have to suspect the whole system."

He added: "You have to draw a distinction between the guys in the front line who have come out and have been polite and helpful and the Southern Water administration which has failed to take this seriously and failed to check the system so that it did not happen again. The stress on my wife has just been incalculable." Southern Water's Hampshire waste water manager Neville James, said: "I am very concerned by this and I am asking my team to pressure test the pipe.

"It is very unusual to have a burst pipe and to have two in three weeks is pretty much unheard of and we would not have expected it to happen.''