Contact Details: Sewers

There are three main terms used to describe underground drainage pipes and these descriptions will usually determine who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the pipe in question.

• A drain is a pipe that carries waste water (foul or surface water) from just one property. This drain is the sole responsibility of the owner(s) of that property for the full length up to the point where the pipe either connects to another pipe, or another pipe connects to it. At this point it becomes a sewer.

• A public sewer is a pipe that is the responsibility of the Sewerage Undertaker for the area. In Three Rivers District this is Thames Water Utilities. These pipes have either been "adopted" by Thames Water since they were laid, or they are pipes which connect two or more properties to the public drainage system and the pipes were in use for this purpose before 1 October 1937. The waste water from every property connected to mains drainage will eventually flow into a public sewer, before reaching its final treatment point. Thames Water keeps plans of public sewers.

• A private sewer is any pipe, taking waste water from more than one property, which is not a public sewer. This sewer is the joint responsibility of each of those properties that drain into it. This responsibility continues up to the point where the private sewer (including the connection) joins a public sewer after which point the responsibility then changes to Thames Water. This means that often people are responsible for the repair and maintenance of drainage pipes that are beneath land owned by someone else. The Council does not normally keep records of private sewers. All cesspits, cesspools and septic tanks are a private responsibility.

You can contact this department directly by telephone or email:

Telephone no:
01923 776611
Fax no:
01923 896119
Email:
enquiries@threerivers.gov.uk

Address:
Three Rivers House
Northway
Rickmansworth
Herts
WD3 1RL