THE flood waters at Farringdon and beyond might not have risen quite so high had it not been for an obstruction to the flow of the Lavant Stream through Chawton.
And that obstruction - a double wall built to support the sewage pipe running from Four Marks to Alton - has been causing considerable stress to residents upstream of it. They are concerned that the force of the water might burst the pipe and send a flood of raw sewage through Chawton downstream to Alton.
A full version of this story will be found in the Alton Herald of December 22, 2000.