FAQs for Flooding and Drainage

For more information, please contact:

Environmental Health

Tel: 01276 707100
environmental.health@surreyheath.gov.uk

Surrey Heath House
Knoll Road
Camberley
Surrey
GU15 3HD

Download
Drains And Sewers Explained Opens in a new window

Answers to some questions commonly raised by residents

What is the difference between a drain and sewer and who is responsible for them?
Drains
A drain takes wastewater from a single property. The owner or occupier of the property, which gains benefit from the drain, is solely responsible for its maintenance. There are two kinds of wastewater, foul water, and surface water.
Toilets, sinks, baths, showers and kitchen appliances all discharge foul waste water. Roof down pipes, drains in driveways and open paved areas in your property discharge surface water (rainwater). The two must be kept separate and the one not discharged to the other.

Sewers
A sewer is a pipe, which takes foul or surface water from more than one property. It may be either privately owned or known as a Public Sewer

Private sewers
By definition, a private sewer serves several properties, i.e. drains from more than one property connect to it. It is important to note that a private sewer or Drain can run under public land, verges, footway, highway or third party private land and they remain private right up to the point of connection with the Public Sewer (see later). The overall ownership of a private sewer is with all property owners or occupiers whose wastewater discharges into it and in law they are jointly responsible for its repair and maintenance. All problems such as blockages have to be dealt with collectively by all owners or occupiers upstream, not just by the owner or occupier of the property where the blockage is apparent.

In dealings with neighbours please be aware that flooding will occur at the lowest point upstream of a blockage in any drainage system, and this will not necessarily be near the site of the blockage. No definitive plans of private drainage systems are held, nor is there a requirement for this in law, however the Council does have some mapping information on private drainage for many sites in the Borough. It is not comprehensive but it's worth an enquiry if you are trying to clear a blockage and want to know where your drains are (supposed to be) located and who is responsible. Accuracy of this non-statutory information is not guaranteed however. More accurate details of your drainage system may be included in the Title deeds of the property.

What are public sewers and who is responsible for maintaining them?
The public sewers are owned and maintained by the sewerage undertaker Thames Water Utilities Ltd, although you may pay your water bills to a different company. The public sewerage network is located mostly in the streets, but could in actual fact run almost anywhere including within private or other public land. You could even have public sewers in your garden. Thames Water is responsible for all aspects of maintenance and repair of their sewers, regardless of where they are.

Private sewers and drains discharge into the public sewer. If the 'private' sewer to your property was built before October 1937 then it may also be the responsibility of Thames Water under the provisions of Section 24, of the Public Health Act 1936, but this will depend greatly upon when the Public Sewer system was actually constructed. (Drains serving single properties do not apply.) The public sewers are all mapped and both the Council and the Water Authority hold copies. This information may be viewed at the Council Offices, Drainage Division, during office hours.

Who is responsible for the private sewer serving a rented property?
Generally, the landlord will be responsible under his maintenance obligations in respect of the property but your tenancy agreement will confirm this, and the procedure to adopt in the event of blockage. Should your Landlord refuse to clear the blockage however it will be your private responsibility.

If you rent your house from Peerless Housing Group, you must contact their maintenance team. The out-of-hours number will have been given to you. This Council has nothing to do with the Housing Association who are completely separate and have their own arrangements in place for dealing with maintenance and related emergencies.

I have bought my Council house (or Housing Association house), who is responsible for the private sewer?
As the house owner, you are responsible for maintaining the sewers equally with the other users, including possibly the Housing Association on a proportional basis.

What are Road Gullies and who is responsible for them?
A road gully is a small chamber covered by a heavy iron grating; they are the familiar feature found in the gutter of roadways. Their function is to drain surface water from the road. Responsibility for these is with the Highway Authority, Surrey County Council 01276 453564.

My drains are blocked. What can I do?
If you are competent you can attend to it yourself. It is often surprisingly simple to clear with the assistance of a set of rods, some knowledge of your property and a little common sense. However, you need to take some simple Health and Safety precautions such as attention to personal hygiene, and care to avoid accidents with inspection covers and open chambers. If in doubt, then ask friends and family to recommend a specialist contractor or jobbing builder.

By all means use the "Yellow Pages" directory many of the advertisers therein are fine, but be aware some may charge what you might consider excessive fees, particularly outside normal hours. Always ask for a scale of charges first. If you wish the Council can arrange for a clearance and the current charges are available on request from the Environmental Health Service  01276 707360. This facility can only deal with basic blockages and where the use of specialist plant and other equipment is required this would ultimately be reflected in the final invoice. If yours is a shared system then in fairness to them, you need to get the agreement of all the other responsible property owners or occupiers (neighbours) before engaging a contractor. Most people are co-operative but sometimes this causes dispute. See later to deal with a dispute.

I have had repeated blockages. Might there be an underlying fault?
There may be an underlying fault, however, a stubborn blockage which was not completely cleared can cause rapid recurrent blockages. If you are in doubt, you can have a CCTV survey of the drain carried out once it has been cleaned. Specialist contractors can do this for you. Such a survey will identify any cracks, breaks, holes, collapses, root ingress, or other fault, it will also enable the accurate location of the problem so that repairs may be targeted if the drain needs to be dug up.

If you decide to employ specialist contractor to conduct such a survey make sure that you receive a video and written report of the survey to keep. Please refer to the Environmental Health Officer  01276 707360 or the Drainage Engineer  01276 707100 for advice, if you need more information. In many cases where the fault can be attributed as "accidental damage" then the investigation and remediation process might be covered by your household insurance and you should in the first instance contact your insurers for clarification.

How can I reduce the incidence of blockages in my drain/sewer?
Items such as disposable nappies, sanitary products, cotton buds, food waste, hot fat etc should never be put down the toilet or sink, these should instead be wrapped and binned. Do make everyone in your household aware of the consequences!

Disputes in blockage clearance
If you cannot reach agreement with the other users of your private sewer regarding sharing the cost for blockage clearance or repairs, then you should contact the Environmental Health Service  01276 707360. All Local Authorities have powers vested in them under a variety of Acts of Parliament, which enable them to require owners or occupiers of private sewers and drains to clear or repair them as appropriate.

This action would normally take the form of a formal legal notice, which would stipulate the work required and time-scale. If the conditions of that Notice were not complied with, the Council could have the works done in default and recover the costs incurred from each responsible party. However, this would probably turn out to be the more expensive option, as the Council would ultimately be looking to recover all costs incurred during the investigative, clearance and administrative processes.

Blockages in the Public Sewer
If you or your contractor have attempted to clear the blockage without success and you suspect the problem is in the Public Sewer then you need to contact Thames Water  08459 200 800. You will need to explain your suspicions to the operator at the Thames Water Call Centre.

Thames Water's contractor will attend promptly to deal with the matter at no cost to you, but may want to refer to you when they attend site in case the problem is not obvious on the ground.

Cesspools and Septic Tanks
These are still used in outlying areas of the Borough, and if operated with care and consideration, and in the right ground conditions, can work satisfactorily for extended periods. If you need yours emptying, you need to find a suitable contractor, use the general advice given earlier above to find one.
The Environmental Health Officer  02176 707360 or the Drainage Engineer  01276 707100 may be able to assist if you cannot find a suitable contractor; you will have to call during Office hours for advice.

My neighbour's Cesspools/Septic Tank/foul drain is overflowing. What shall I do?
In the interests of good neighbour relations you should first of all, advise your neighbour, often they will not have realised. Most will respond and get it sorted out. If not, report the incident to the Environmental Health Officer 01276 707360 who will take up the matter directly with the owner.

A large tree is near my drain. Will I get problems from this?
Generally, it is better to discourage tree growth on or near the line of drains and sewers but there need not necessarily be any cause for alarm, in practice, the risks are small. In any case, it is not always possible to control activity in remote third-party land. As far as the law is concerned trees cannot be implicated. In a properly constructed and sound drainage system tree roots should not be able to get in.

For tree roots to penetrate a drainage system there would have to be a defect. Roots are naturally drawn to moisture, particularly during dry spells when they can enter the pipe or an inspection chamber and cause longer-term blockages or further structural damage. As previously explained though, many insurance companies will consider root ingress to be accidental damage and as such may be covered by your household insurance policy. Check with your insurers for clarification.

Any other questions?
You are welcome to discuss any drainage problem with a knowledgeable member of staff, either on the telephone or in person if you prefer, during office hours. An appointment may be necessary and a call beforehand is a wise precaution if you plan to visit.  01276 707100 during office hours.