Rain Water into Foul Drain!

[tom.harrigan]

Hi

It turns out that my house does not have a soakaway as it should. The rainwater goes into the foul drain, and as far as I can tell, has done so since the house was connected to the sewer in ~1970. I'm replacing my guttering and doing some repairs to my drainage, so I suppose now is the right time to rectify the situation. My main worry, apart from the cost, is that my sewage connection is so poor (very low fall, very shallow, needs rodding frequently in summer), that if I don't send my rainwater down it, I'll have constant problems.

I'm tempted to leave it as it is, but I'm also scared of getting caught.

T

[Robert Laws]

My father's house used to have one fall pipe that went into the foul drain. The water comany charged a higher fee because of this but they did not seem to consider there was anything wrong with it.

Robert

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its only deprecated, not strictly illegal if it exists already.

Depending on your location, a good soakaway may help the poor old water company a bit.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!Hi |! |!It turns out that my house does not have a soakaway as it should. The |!rainwater goes into the foul drain, and as far as I can tell, has done |!so since the house was connected to the sewer in ~1970. I'm replacing |!my guttering and doing some repairs to my drainage, so I suppose now |!is the right time to rectify the situation. My main worry, apart from |!the cost, is that my sewage connection is so poor (very low fall, very |!shallow, needs rodding frequently in summer), that if I don't send my |!rainwater down it, I'll have constant problems. |! |!I'm tempted to leave it as it is, but I'm also scared of getting |!caught.

If it was built like that there is no *need* to do anything. Building regulations are *not* retrospective.

[Roger]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

Here in West Yorkshire I get a deduction for not putting rain water down the foul drain.

[tom.harrigan]

I suspect that originally the rainwater just went int the street. The house is ~300yrs old with a ~1970s extension. I have the plan for the extension, and the guy who did it should have provided a soakaway 5m from the house. Thames Water do not allow rainwater into the sewers in this area.

Time to dig a big hole and fill it with rubble...

T

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!On 5 Jun, 12:04, Dave Fawthrop |!wrote: |!>

|!>

|!> If it was built like that there is no *need* to do anything. Building |!> regulations are *not* retrospective. |!> -- |! |!I suspect that originally the rainwater just went int the street. The |!house is ~300yrs old with a ~1970s extension. I have the plan for the |!extension, and the guy who did it should have provided a soakaway 5m |!from the house. Thames Water do not allow rainwater into the sewers in |!this area.

Have they been asked for their opinion in *this* case?

My house was built in the 70s with a single sewer, but over the wall are some new houses with rainwater going into the local beck.

[EricP]

That's because they need the full capacity of the sewer to take away water from their leaking mains.

[Doctor Drivel]

If you are doing major works then fit a rainwater re-cycling tank. It will cut your water bills, and the cost of water per cu metre can also be less too.

[Tony Williams]

Have a look at an itemised water bill. Ours have a line that refers to a charge for removing Surface Water, which is zero for us because we are registered as disposing via soakaways.

[Brian G]

Leave it and don't worry - it's just the 'one' pipe system as opposed to the relatively newer 'two' pipe that came into general use around the early to mid seventies.

On the one pipe system, everything was connected to the foul pipe - rain water, sewage, bath water (if you had one), washing water, washing-up water and anything else the householder cared to throw down it.

Brian G