Who owns the pipe that connects your external household waste pipe to the public sewer in the street?

For over 10 million households in England and Wales the answer has been 'you'. From 1 October, the government is to transfer the ownership of private sewers to the local water and sewerage companies who already maintain and repair our public sewers and the sewers that serve most other households. This means that Wessex Water or possibly Thames Water will be responsible for the sewer and will have to maintain any pipes and connections that go wrong.

If you like technical definitions: private sewers and lateral drains are the sections of sewer pipe or drain that are shared with another person’s property, or run through another person’s land.
Drain – a wastewater pipe that serves just one property.
Lateral drain – the part of the drain that is outside the property boundary.
Sewer – a wastewater pipe that serves more than one property. Sewers can either be public (owned and maintained by Wessex Water, for example) or private (owned and maintained by groups of individuals or organisations).

After 1 October, you will still be responsible for any internal plumbing and the section of pipe leading to the private sewer. If you think you have a problem with a sewer pipe or drain, please carry out the following steps because it’s important that you try and identify where the problem is because this will save you unnecessary callouts.

If you have a shared sewer, try asking your neighbours whether they have a problem. If they don’t, it’s likely that the problem is on our section of pipe or waste plumbing, meaning we will need to resolve it - so please contact Westlea about it.

If your neighbours do have a problem, it may be on a shared section of pipe.

Wessex Water’s emergencies and operational problems number: 0845 600 4 600
Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.

Thames Water has a dedicated private sewers number: 0845 0709 150.
Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.

[published online 28/9/11]

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