Christmas was ruined for villagers after their homes were flooded with raw sewage.
The sewage entered houses and gardens in and around Station Road in Tempsford following a pump station failure.
Tempsford Parish Council says it has been appealing to water company Anglian Water to upgrade the pump station in the village for years.
Councillors and other villagers have been providing sandbags and helping those affected.
Clive and Jan Card had to abandon their Christmas lunch and put Jan’s mother and her partner up in a hotel after sewage entered their living room.
Speaking on Thursday (December 27) Jan said: “We were just finishing lunch when we felt liquid on the carpet under our feet.
“We knew what it was straight away as our garden has been flooded with about a foot of sewage.
“This has happened before but it has only been in the garden after heavy rain and never in the house. It made Christmas very stressful for us.
“People in the village have been reluctant to use their toilets in case it makes the problem worse.”
Clive said: “The sewage started to seep through the walls on Christmas Eve, but the garden had already been flooded for three days,
“Anglian Water have not understood the severity of the problem.
“They have sent out tankers but they are just a sticking plaster really.
“Sewage is still coming into my garden as I speak.”
Steve and Julie Howes had to bring their own pumps in after sewage appeared in their shower.
Julie said: “It was bubbling on Christmas Day but it went away again, but then on Boxing Day it all came back up.
“We called Anglian Water throughout the night and they eventually sent a tanker to the village but we have had to do a lot of the pumping ourselves.”
Steve Cooney from Tempsford Parish Council said: “The parish council has been trying to deal with Anglian Water for a long time because it’s a frequent problem.
“They say there’s no problem and the sewers can cope but this is a prime example of what is going to happen in the future.”
Anglian Water spokesman Antony Innes said: “We are sorry for the residents affected.
“This is clearly a difficult situation and we would like to assure people we are doing all we can to fix it.”
“Tankers have been on site working to alleviate the problem and prevent further sewage from escaping into the local area, while engineers are working to restore the pumps as quickly as possible.
“While as yet we don’t know what has caused this failure, we will of course carry out a thorough investigation to try and avoid similar issues in future.”
Have you been affected? Email us at editorial@biggleswadechronicle.co.uk