Blocked sewer mains, backed up to house

lifeandtimes

hi everyone,

The gully at the back of our house is blocked and excrement and everything flowing into our back garden.

We have had a drainage company out and they have been in and out of 3 houses front and back gardens on our road and say the blockage is on the mains in the road and they cant reach it to fix it i.e its a huge problem.

How do we get this resolved, the smell is starting to become unbearable and its a major issue at this point.

I was told the council but i have no idea where to begin.

Thanks

antoinolachtnai

You need to talk to the local council. Ring them up and explain the situation. State clearly that a number of houses have been effected and that you have had a commercial drain clearing company out and they have told you that the blockage is on the road.

If this doesn't work, then contact your local councillor.

Cuddlesworth

Is the road council owned or part of a private estate?

handlemaster

council should be able to tell you quickly if the blockage is on their property if not on theirs your on your own

Eldarion

Sounds like it's big enough to lodge a complaint with the EPA.

Millypenny

The EPA don't deal with minor matters like this, your local authority is who you contact about it.

The local authorities usually have a Water & Sewerage section, but the receptionist will direct your call to the relevant department.

If they can't deal with it, contact your local Environmental Health Officer stating that that there is a risk to public health.

mitresize5

The environmental health officer is the person to see asap.

I had this problem with a rented house. The council spend a week telling me it was my problem. They wouldn't even come out to investigate. The EHO had one look at it, asked me what I had done to investigate and once I told her I had Dyno Rod out and they diagnosed a problem in the mains she was onto the council and they were out with 48 hours.

You'll be beating your head off a brick wall trying to get the council to act yourself

lifeandtimes

mitresize5 wrote: »

The environmental health officer is the person to see asap.

I had this problem with a rented house. The council spend a week telling me it was my problem. They wouldn't even come out to investigate. The EHO had one look at it, asked me what I had done to investigate and once I told her I had Dyno Rod out and they diagnosed a problem in the mains she was onto the council and they were out with 48 hours.

You'll be beating your head off a brick wall trying to get the council to act yourself

they were out yesterday,within 2 hours infact...in fairness to the guy he was straight up, he said its not the mains but the connection of our house to pipe that connects to mains, i.e. our 6 houses all flow into one pip which in turn flows to the mains across the road, looks like a tree might be blocking it on the road but the guy said as the mains isnt blocked he cant do anything, he said we have to get all the excrement out of the main shore in the neighbors garden and get a camera down to confirm if its the tree or not, if its the tree he says then they will have to fix it as the tree is on public property and to keep receipts so we cant get reimbursed.

Now just the fun of trying to get our neighbors to chip in and pay for the drainage company to come out, they will have too as its effecting them but not as much as us but it will get worse

handlemaster

i had a similar situation where the shared sewerage pipe was blocked on my property . I paid to get it cleaned and I wrote to the neighbours concerned regarding sharing of the cost that I had paid for the shared drainage. I got you can guess zero replies. But it is noted for the future what goes around comes around