A MYSTERY leak believed to involve sewage has turned a street into a treacherous sheet of ice in the freezing temperatures, preventing residents from using their front doors.

Residents in Cavendish Road, Clare, near Sudbury, have been plagued by liquid pouring down their road due to the leak, which has been baffling experts.

The cold weather has made the pavement dangerous to walk on, so residents have been accessing their homes via their back doors.

Initially thought to be spring water, Anglian Water now believes the liquid is sewage which is escaping from a private drain.

Resident David Salter, 69, said the news the liquid may involve sewage made it even more of a priority to fix the problem.

“There are schoolchildren walking up to the school and if they are walking through sewage it’s not very nice. It’s not very hygienic for anybody that,” he said.

“Just get it sorted. I do not care who does it. It wants sorting.”

Anglian Water has advised residents living on the affected stretch of Cavendish Road to have their drains investigated.

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “We have been back to the site and conducted another search but again found no leaks on our pipes and sampling of the water failed to find any trace of the chlorine which would indicate it was drinking water.

“However, we did find ammonia, which is present in sewage. Following this new line of investigation leads us to believe that one of the private drains serving that stretch of road is the source of the problem and sewage is somehow escaping the drain and percolating up through the paving.”

Mr Salter added: “It cannot be our drains for the simple reason they run lower down than it’s coming out. Therefore it’s got to be higher up than ours.”

A sheet of ice stretched for about 100 yards and prevented residents of five or six household from accessing their front doors.

“About three or four of us are pensioners and the fact is it’s the main road up to the middle school in Clare. Mums and children have been walking out in the middle of the road,” he said.

There had been a small leak in the middle of the road which he had been reporting for years, but in early September a second leak sprung up and liquid was gushing out like a “tap on full turn”.

Previously Suffolk County Council said there was no evidence of a problem with highway drainage, but officers would provide assistance to Anglian Water in identifying a solution.