A WATER utility company has denied a faulty drain is to blame for foul water leaking onto Cockfield Fell.
Some residents think the seepage might contain sewage.
Esperley’s John Hartley, who walks his dog Alfie alongside the fell every day as he makes his way to the newsagent at Cockfield, said the problem had been ongoing since Northumbrian Water installed the drain a few years ago.
The drain runs parallel to the Cockfield to Evenwood road, with the leakages happening close to the Esperley Lane junction.
Mr Hartley said: “It just keeps getting worse and worse. The dog has run into it a few times, it absolutely stinks.”
The 68-year-old added: “It leaks all the time. I have rung the water board and they say it isn’t their fault.
“They deny it, but I can’t see how they can. They said they had a camera down. I said they didn’t need a camera, I can show them where it is leaking.”
Stock on the fell have trod through the muck prompting one unknown person to install fencing to steer cattle away.
A spokesperson for Northumbrian Water confirmed the company is aware of the leak but an investigation had found no sewage present.
He said: “We have used a camera to determine the cause and it appears to be coming from a highways gully on the adjacent road.”
He added that the information had been passed on to Durham County Council to investigate further.
