Public Health - Drainage

What can you do if you have a problem?
Information about drains and sewers, and what to do if a blockage occurs.

Most people think that the Council is responsible for maintaining your drains but this is not correct. If you own your house you will normally be responsible for any underground pipe-work that takes foul water (sewage) from your property until it meets the public sewer. The public sewers are owned by the company that you pay your utility bill to; in the District it is usually Thames Water. If the pipe-work also takes foul water from other houses, the owners of these properties will share the responsibility equality.

If your house shares drainage and was built before October 1937, or you think that the problem is in the public sewer, you should contact your utility company.

Drainage terminology
Drain - This is the section of pipe-work that takes foul water (sewage) from your property until it reaches a shared section of pipe-work.

Private Sewer - This is a section of pipe-work that takes foul water from more than one property until it meets the public sewer.

Public Sewer - This is the pipe-work owned by the utility company that usually runs down the middle of the road.

What can you do if you have a problem?
Usually most drainage problems are a simple, one-off blockage that once cleared will cause no further problems. Dependant upon the responsibility the following courses of action is suggested:

Blocked Drain
If you have a blocked drain, it is the responsibility of the owner of the property to try and unblock the drain. A set of drain rods will usually be sufficient to clear the blockage, these can be hired from tool hire shops. If you decide to do this yourself you need to be careful that you do not damage the pipes in any way.

If you think that the problem is not on your property we recommend that you speak to your neighbours to try to establish the extent of the problem. If you need to involve another agency it will help if you know how many houses are affected.

Alternatively you may prefer to employ a specialist firm to undertake the work on your behalf, these companies usually advertise in the Yellow Pages or other similar directories.

Blocked Private Sewer
The advice is the same as a blocked drain for a blocked private sewer BUT the cost of the required work should be shared equally between all of the households that drain into the affected part of the sewer (i.e. upstream of the problem).

If you are unsure then it may be possible for our Environmental Health Officers to identify which properties are involved with the blockage.

Blocked Public Sewer
If the blocked pipe or problem is originating from a public sewer then contact Thames Water who will clear the blockage free of charge. Please contact them on 0845 9200 800

What if the problem recurs?
This may be due to unsuitable items being flushed into the system, such as disposable nappies, sanitary towels or large amounts of grease. It is good practice not to flush these items into the system.
It may be due to a defect in the pipe work such as a collapsed pipe, bad joint, tree roots growing in the pipe, etc. If this is the case it is likely that the affected area of pipe work may have to be dug up and re-laid. This can be expensive but may be covered by your house building insurance.

You may wish to have a CCTV survey carried out on the affected pipe work to identify the location and nature of the problem. There are specialist companies who can do this for you and again the cost may be covered by your house building insurance.

Our Procedure
If you contact Environmental Health to deal with a drainage problem then the procedure laid out below will be followed:

On receipt of a drainage complaint an officer will contact you as soon as possible and depending on how urgent the situation is.

The officer will ask you:
How old is the affected property - pre 1937? If the answer is Yes and adjacent properties are affected then the property may be the responsibility of Thames Water- contact them on 0845 9200 800.

If not then the officer will ask:

• Are any of the neighbours affected?
• Is there any history of problems with the drains?
• Do you know how many properties are on the private sewer?

The officer will identify whether the problem is a blocked private drain, private sewer or a different problem that needs to be investigated and the officer will advise you of possible remedies. The cost of the repairs is the responsibility of those properties on the affected part of the private sewer. A private drain is the responsibility of the owner.

An officer will visit you, if necessary, to identify who is on the affected system and advise all parties of their legal duties and responsibilities. A private contractor may be the cheapest option if all the affected neighbours agree to share the costs.

The officer may advise on how quickly the works must be carried out to avoid enforcement action being taken. If no action has been taken then Legal Notices will be served to all appropriate parties. If the work is not completed within the time limit specified we will carry out the works on your behalf and will then apportion the total costs between all the affected parties.

What happens if a Notice is served?
The Council has the powers to serve a ‘Notice Requiring Removal of Obstruction from Private Sewers’ if it believes that foul water from your property runs into a blocked private sewer. Other properties that also drain into the blocked private sewer will also receive a notice. Notices require the owners to unblock the sewer within a specified time (usually 48 hours).

Once a notice has been served, we recommend that you still try and talk to your neighbours, as this is the quickest (and sometimes the cheapest) way to resolve the problem. Try to agree to call out a contractor and share the costs between you. If, after the 48 hours has lapsed and the sewer is still blocked, the Council will arrange for a contractor to unblock the sewer. The cost of this work and the Council’s administration costs will be divided between all the owners who received a Notice. If some or all of the houses are owned by a housing association they can be charged in the same way as any other owner. These charges can differ depending on time spent, number of visits made and the complexity of the works required.

If any defects are found when using CCTV cameras then another Notice may be served requiring repairs to the sewer, the same procedure as above will apply and all properties that share the system will be responsible for the costs of the repairs.

Misconnections
This is the term used when an appliance such as a washing machine is incorrectly connected to the storm water sewer instead of the foul water sewer. Waste water and detergents from these appliances then bypass the essential treatment process and are discharged into streams and rivers causing pollution.

If this is suspected, contact Thames Water on 0800 783 4444 who will investigate to find out who exactly caused the misconnection and advise the customer accordingly.
Cess pools and pits, septic tanks

Cesspools and septic tanks are parts of private drainage systems, responsibility for which rests with the property owner.