Every time anyone needed the loo, they had to get in their cars and drive almost a mile to use the bogs at a Tesco supermarket.
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The poor souls were also forced to bathe using a jug and a bucket after their water supply ran to a trickle.
The residents – many of them pensioners – hit out at the “poor” standards at the caravan park in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.
Carol Peters, 68, said: “We lost our water supply for more than a week before Christmas and were forced to travel to the Tesco to use the loo – it was ridiculous really.
“We had to try and wash using a jug or a cup because there was only a tiny trickle of water coming form the taps. It really was very poor.”
Mrs Peters, a retired GP practice manager, said: “The problem is the cesspit which keeps backing up and overflowing into nearby fields and gardens.
“It’s a real health hazard.”
Pauline Fitzpatrick, 78, has lived at the Old Canal Caravan Park for 17 years and is sick to death of problems there.
“It’s shocking,” she fumed, adding: “The cesspit has been mended now but we don’t know for how long.
“It smells though so something isn’t right and Lord knows what it’s going to be like in the summer. There’s clearly something wrong with it.
“When the water went off we couldn’t wash or do anything for days and days. The least we should be able to expect in the 21st century is clean running water.
“It was a nightmare really,” she said. “We just had to put up with not washing. It was ridiculous and not very hygienic for us.”
Mrs Fitzpatrick, a retired credit controller who is secretary of the Old Canal Residents Association, has been liaising with the owners to get improvements on the site.
“People are at the wits end,” she said.
She added: “One disabled resident was left without electricity the other day and had to go out in the rain and the wind to try and get help. It’s not fair.”
Now it has emerged the owners of the Old Canal Caravan Park have been served with an enforcement notice ordering them to take action.
Arun District Council’s licensing committee meeting was told there had been issues with drainage on the site for around two years.
The council had issued an enforcement notice about the sewage plant but this had not been complied with by the site owner, one councillor said.
Cllr Trevor Bence said the problem was not isolated to the caravan park as overflowing waste from the cesspit would make its way into the ditches and canals surrounding Bognor.
Resident, Dennis Fitzpatrick, 76, added: “This simply can’t go on.
“We need the council to pull their finger out and sort out the problem. It is a health hazard.
“We didn’t have any water for more than a week and I had to go round to my brother’s house round the corner to use his facilities. It’s simply not on and we need something done about it.”
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