Who is responsible for the wastewater system?
There are sewers which belong to you, called private sewers. Sewers which belong to us are called public sewers. And then there are highway drains and gulleys which belong to the council.
What’s ours
In most cases we are responsible for the large sewers which are normally under the road or pavement. Due to a change in law on 1st October 2011 the sections of sewers and pipe you share with your neighbours, and pipes outside of your property boundary which connect to our existing network became our responsibility. These diagrams help explain the recent changes.
If you think one of our sewers is blocked please call us any time of day or night on 08457 145 145 and we’ll arrange for a sewer technician to come and check it out.
• If it's in a public sewer – that’s one owned by Anglian Water - we will clear the pipe
• If the problem is in your drain or private sewer - you will need to pay for an independent drain clearing company to do the work for you.
What’s yours
Wastewater pipes that are situated within your property boundary (such as beneath your house, garden and driveway), and which take away the flows from only your property to the point where they connect to pipework serving another property. These diagrams help explain.
What’s the Council’s
If blocked highway drains and road gullies are causing surface water flooding they will need to be checked out by the Highways Authority. You can find a contact number for your County Council highways department in the phone book or online.
Environment Agency
For simple advice on what to do before, during and after flooding in bad weather, call the Environment Agency’s 'Floodline' on 0845 988 1188.