SewerMouth

Drainage Transfer 2011

2011-07-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Drainage Transfer October 2011

Well its been talked about for a few years and it finally looks as though the drainage transfer of all shared drainage is going to be handed over to the water and sewerage companies on the 1^st October 2011.

The water and sewerage companies are now trying to bring this to the attention of the wider public and here I will try to explain (not to sure myself at the moment) how this will affect the rate payer and the drainage contractor.

The image below shows how after the 1^st October the home owner will only be responsible for any private drainage within the boundaries of their property, any shared drainage or private drainage beyond the boundary line will automatically become the responsibility of the water companies.

My initial thoughts are if there is a blockage how will the home owner know where the system is blocked, they will not and can not be expected to know and neither will the person manning the call centre for the water company,

As an example if the manhole to the rear of property No1 in the drawing is blocked at point A it is a blockage in a private drain, if the blockage is at point B it is the responsibility of the water company, but how do we find out ?.

Surely the private drainage contractor is not expected to measure out his drain rods or jetting hose up to the boundary fence downstream of the manhole and stop at that point if he has not cleared the blockage, presumably he then notifies the water company before packing up and leaving the home owner with an invoice for his time ?.

Does the water company appointed contractor ever so carefully push his rods downstream of the manhole in case he disturbs a blockage before he crosses the boundary line, therefore accidentally clearing a blockage in a private system, surely not ?. I suspect a lot of private systems will be cleared at the rate payer’s expense,

Drain Repair After The Transfer in October 2011

If the property in the picture to the right has root ingress to the drainage system from the manhole through to the sewer in the road then presumably a drainage contractor can root cut and reline the drain up to the front boundary line, the rest of the run through to the sewer in the road is then the responsibility of the water company.

They however can not now reline from the manhole because a liner has already been installed up to the boundary, this leaves the option of several localised patch repairs in the section beneath the foot path and road or a good old fashioned and disruptive excavation.

Or does the independent drainage contractor liaise with the water company and risk losing the job completely, I suspect not.

I should also mention that the things most likely to cause a major problem in a drainage system like tree root ingress, damage due to vehicular movement, impact damage via a fence post or damage resulting from a utility contractor installing a gas main are already covered under your bricks and mortar insurance, the water company in my area kindly advised that we should speak to our insurer to see what impact these changes have on our policy.

I think I know what the answer will be, my insurance policy will continue to increase nearly as fast as our water rates as the water companies realise what has hit them.

Building Over A Public Sewer

The water companies are not keen on people building within 3 mtrs of their sewers and they definitely do not like people building over them, which is fair enough and if at all possible it should be avoided.

However it is not always possible and in most cases there is not enough fall on a system to start diverting pipe work around your new extension, in cases like these the water companies ask that you locate and inspect the sewer at your own expense and submit the information to them., which again is a good working practice so that everyone knows what is where and its current condition. The water companies will then specify what they require from you foundation wise so that you are not affecting their sewer in anyway, and again nothing wrong with that.

They can however go belt and braces on these things and I have known simple extensions to cost as much below ground as above due to the requirements of the water companies, I have also been on sites where the size of the proposed build has decreased to avoid the additional cost and at least one site where the guy was told he could not extend at all.

Now given that all shared drainage will be classed as a public sewer after October this will affect a lot more people and we can only hope that common sense prevails, I also hope that the independent drainage contractor gets a look in for the inspection works and we don’t end up with a list of preferred water company contractors sent out with every new build application.

Only time will tell if the drainage transfer is the best thing to happen in the industry in years or if it will be a complete mess, by the time we know there will be far too many small and medium sized independent contractors out of business.

Read more on drainage ownership here

Downspout Lining Article From DrainDomain.Com

2011-07-16T04:37:00.000-07:00

Leaking internal down spouts cause untold damage to building in our cities and towns, the cost and disturbance involved in removing and renewing them is often prohibitive but obviously a repair has to be carried out before major structural damage occurs.

DrainDomain.Com have written a couple of articles detailing the drain relining methods that can be adapted to repair and seal these problematic systems, from the initial investigation methods to assess the problem through to the final repair and test methods to ensure the works are satisfactory.

Read more at www.draindomain.com

Cheaper Septic Tank Emptying Costs

2011-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

The rise in fuel prices and the costs involved in disposing of waste have all contributed to the general rise in getting your septic tank emptied, there is however a way for home owners to bring down the cost according to the editors at www.septictankman.com

Block booking (pun intended) is the way forward, if you and your neighbours can agree to have your tanks emptied on the same day this saves the contractor fuel costs and gives you some bartering power, the more households involved the more discount available.

A similar policy is paying off around the UK as communities get together through social networking, parish councils etc and bulk buy their fuel oil.

Garry Moody from www.septictankman.com explains there are even greater savings to be made as more contractors are now using de-watering tankers, these machines empty your septic tank, separate the waste from the water before pumping the water back into the tank.

This means that the contractor is not unnecessarily carrying and tipping large volumes of water, the savings made can be passed onto the customer and these savings increase if multiple emptying can take place in one visit.

Visit www.septictankman.com for more information

City of Bristol College Use Draindomain.Com Content

2011-06-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Content from www.draindomain.com is being used by the City of Bristol College as part of their Transport Technology Faculty.

College lecturer David Duckett said "I teach on motor vehicle subjects ranging from school children to adults including many transport managers, a topic common to most of the qualifications is the impact transport makes on the environment. One aspect of that is interceptors and how they work and the DrainDomain.Com website has some of the best diagrams of interceptors I have seen".

Steve Piron from www.draindomain.com added "This is not the first time content from the site has been sourced for educational purposes, in 2009 images were requested by a plumbing lecturer for a national publication and we have had many requests for the use of content for in-house training programmes within the drainage industry".

Wolves boss in £87K marathon run

2011-06-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Wolverhampton Wanderers Chairman Steve Morgan has raised an incredible £87,000 for the international charity WaterAid, by running the London Marathon last month.

Despite suffering a hamstring strain setback just two weeks before, Steve enlisted help from Wolves' medical department to complete the exhausting 26.2 miles in four hours 53 minutes.

The 58-year-old was inspired to run the London Marathon for WaterAid after seeing first-hand what life is like without access to clean water, when he visited Rwanda with the charity in November. "The marathon was tough, but nothing compared to what I saw in Rwanda," he explained.

"The country has moved on a great deal since the 1994 genocide, but a huge issue that remains is child mortality. In Africa, one in five children doesn't make it to their fifth birthday because of diseases caused by unclean water and lack of sanitation."

"We're absolutely thrilled to have raised such a fantastic amount for WaterAid and we'd like to thank everyone who sponsored us, including many Wolves fans who have been magnificent."

The Wolves boss was joined by his friend and colleague, Dave Edwards, for the marathon who also contributed to the immense fundraising effort. With Steve matching all sponsorship pound for pound, the fundraising total of £36,271 has increased to £72,542 – reaching £87,000 with pledges and Gift Aid.

Read more on this story here

Singing Sewermen Raise Cash For WaterAid

2011-01-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

A bunch of hardy London sewermen have posted on YouTube a reworded version of the carol Good King Wenceslas.

They hope to stop people washing drain-blocking turkey fat down their sinks this Christmas, while also raising money for WaterAid.

Watch their performance below, or on the BBC News website here.

January Update: With more than 30,000 views already, Thames Water have confirmed their donation of £2000 to WaterAid from the film.

Christmas is always the worst time of year for sewer abuse, which is when people put anything other than human waste or loo roll down drains. And turkey fat is the biggest no-no of all.

In December around 25 per cent more fat goes down drains, forming hideous 'fatberg' blockages when it cools down and sets hard in sewers. An estimated 500 tonnes of lard - the equivalent mass of one million Christmas puddings - is expected to end up in Thames Water sewers this month.

The problem is so bad that Thames Water's sewermen, or 'flushers', who work in the sewers clearing fatbergs, have sung a seasonal plea to their 14m customers to: "Bin it - don't block it."

In a pithy departure from hymn-writer John Mason Neale's 1853 words, The Singing Sewermen have re-written the lyrics to Good King Wenceslas to include this straight-to-the-point advice: "Only what comes out of you, Should go into our pipes."

The choristers' YouTube performance took place in the famous Victorian brick sewers under their base at Wick Lane in Hackney.

Rob Smith, chief Thames Water sewerman and lead chorister, said: "Sewer abuse a big problem – one well worth making a song and dance about in our view. And it's not every day you get to see a rough-and-ready performance of a Christmas carol by a bunch of guys knee deep in poo.

"Some of our less flattering fans have said our singing is a load of poo, too. Sure, we’re not quite Take That but I’d like to think our vocals have improved a tad on last year's song."

For each hit the carol gets, Thames Water will 'spend a penny' for WaterAid, donating 1p* a time to support the charity's life-saving work to improve access to safe water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest people.

In July this year the Singing Sewermen cleared 1,000 tonnes of fat - enough to fill nine Double Decker London buses - from the sewers under Leicester Square. But five months on and the lard is back with a vengeance – because of sewer abuse.

Rob added: "Cooking fat, sanitary items and other nasties that are wrongly put down loos and sinks end up blocking sewers, and in some cases cause sewage to back up into people's homes, which is truly horrific. Our message is simple. If it's not water, toilet tissue or poo, please: Bin it – don’t block it."

Every year 7,000 homes and gardens across London and the Thames Valley are flooded with sewage as a result of sewer abuse.

Sourced from www.wateraid.org with thanks to Thames Water

Concrete Sectional Septic Tanks

2011-01-03T02:45:00.000-08:00

SepticTankMan.Com have put together an advise page on circular concrete septic tanks following a number of enquiries in recent weeks.

Concrete sectional septic tanks were seen as a quicker and cheaper option to the traditional brick built systems, this was of course prior to the emergence of modern fiberglass and plastic tanks.

There are plenty of them out there and given that the majority of them will be over 40 years old it is little surprise that they will require some attention.

You can read advice on their construction and how they can be maintained at www.septictankman.com

The SepticTankMan.Com site offers advice on all things septic tank related including many images and animations, they also offer a national emptying and repair service.

Pipe Dreams

2010-12-26T01:58:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a drainage related break (as if !) Desparkhotel in Austria has just the thing. They have cleverly utilised concrete sewer pipes to offer accommodation supplied with 220V power, double bed, skylight window, decorative wall art, double door, storage space, and peace and quiet.

Ideal for any home sick drainage engineer and his spouse, not too sure if you have to sleep in full escape harness and have a gas detector set up at the side of the bed though.

There may also be a rush for the door when you hear the flush of a toilet in the far distance.

Worker rescued after being swept through sewers

2010-12-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Man survives mile-long trip through Missouri sewerage system after becoming unhooked from safety line
A worker who descended into a city sewerage system on Tuesday became unhooked from his safety line and was pushed through a pipe 69cm (27in) wide for more than a mile before his calls for help were heard and he was rescued.

Daniel Collins, of Collins, Missouri, was in a critical condition at St Luke's hospital in Kansas City.

The South Metropolitan fire district chief, Randy Adams, said Collins was being treated for hypothermia and given antibiotics because he may have swallowed sewage.

Collins disappeared soon after 8am on Tuesday after descending into the sewerage system in Raymore. Adams said crews searched manholes along a 1.5-mile route near a golf course.

After about 90 minutes, a firefighter and paramedic, Antonio Smith, heard Collins calling out: "Guys, I'm down here. Can you help me?"

Smith was lowered into the sewerage chamber and found Collins about 3.6 metres down. Collins appeared to have some bruises but was able to speak, Smith told KMBC-TV.

"It was a miracle to find him in that condition," Smith said.

He said he put Collins over his shoulder, and crews topside helped lift him out. Firefighters covered Collins with coats while waiting for an air ambulance.

Adams said Collins "was not totally coherent. He was basically in and out, and he was very weak".

Collins was tethered when he descended into the sewer and was still wearing the harness when he was found. It was unclear how he became unhooked, which allowed him to be pushed through the pipe by rushing water.

Raymore officials said Collins's employer, Rosetta Construction of Springfield, was working on parts of the city's sewerage system.

Sourced from www.guardian.co.uk

Understanding the Cause of Sewer Blockages with Exeter University

2010-12-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Due to low ‘visibility’, sewerage systems are inherently difficult to monitor, maintain and rehabilitate. However, in the interest of maintaining a public health barrier and preventing environmental pollution, their continued rehabilitation is essential.

Maintenance of sewerage systems is very costly and proper management is often hampered by financial constraints. As a result, a reactive ‘management by crisis’ approach is often adopted whereby maintenance is carried out as and when a service failure is reported. There is however limited scope to reduce the number of sewer blockages occurring through the sole use of reactive maintenance.

The project is being funded through the Stream IDC, an industrial doctorate centre for the water industry and is part of research collaboration between WRc and the Centre for Water Systems at the University of Exeter. The collaborative project is targeted at improving sewer operation, with the aim of the initial study being two-fold:

to improve sewer performance in terms of blockage occurrence per km/yr and
to reduce the total cost of sewer maintenance incurred by the sewerage undertaker.

The work will improve the way that sewerage undertakers diagnose their causes of blockage and carry out work to prevent reoccurrence. This improved methodology will be developed by achieving a better understanding of the mechanics of sewer blockage occurrence, specifically by identifying under what circumstances sewers begin to show a propensity to blockage formation.

Better understanding of the mechanics of blockage formation will improve the sewerage undertaker's ability to predict where blockages are most likely to occur and therefore manage this aspect of sewerage maintenance on a more proactive basis.

For further information contact Trefor Hillas at trefor.hillas@wrcplc.co.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1793 865089.

Sourced from Wrc plc

Why Drains Block

2010-12-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

The guys at DrainDomain.Com have put together a list of the problems typically found on domestic drainage systems.

The vast majority of domestic drainage systems in the UK are made up of 100mm and 150mm vitrified clay pipe work and for the most part these systems do their job with regard to carrying waste and storm water from one point to the next, or do they ? Most drainage systems will have some sort of defect such as misalignment of joints, stepped joints, dipped sections, fine root ingress, fracturing or leaking pipe work, but they more often than not keep on working.

This can be due to a number of reasons, drains block and clear themselves due to the weight of water that builds up in the system, other systems can operate more like a septic tank for many years given the right ground conditions with the majority of the waste water soaking into the sub-soil through defective joints while solids and waste breakdown within the pipe work.

The drainage system at the three bedroom house Grandpa and Grandma have lived in for 40 years can cope with the weekly bath and anything else they can throw at it, stick them in a nursing home and move the wife and three kids in and all the baths, showers, washing machine and dishwasher waste suddenly doubles the volume of water passing through the system and highlights any defects.

Bad Housekeeping
Many blockages are due to poor maintenance and bad habits around the property, the more serious problems don't tend to happen overnight so by regularly checking the system by lifting external manhole covers twice yearly you may not stop the final blockage but you may well see it coming prior to the big flood.

There are several things a house owner can do to avoid blockages through normal daily use a simple rule of thumb is don`t put anything into the system that will not dissolve or break down, many people seem to think that because it says disposable on the packet you can flush it down the pan and it magically disappears. Disposable nappies, sanitary goods (even the ones with wings won`t fly through the system), condoms, cotton buds and little freddie`s toy car are not designed to pass around the U bend and into the drainage system. They will of course if you try hard enough but then they are likely to stop at the first snag point and start to block the entire system.

Drainage Grids & Gullies

These are the drains at the side of the property where your rain water down spouts and kitchen and bathroom waste pipes discharge into, they should have a water trap on them similar to the way a toilet operates, the trap is there to stop smells from the main line drainage venting at ground level and the trap also prevents silt and debris from entering the system and hopefully rats coming the other way.

It is therefore good practice to get your marigolds on and clean out the gullies occasionally as grease, fat and fibres from sinks, washing machines and dishwashers can hold and solidify in waste gullies, while silt and debris from roofs and gutters collect in storm water gullies. Leaves and debris can seal the grid top preventing water from entering the gully pot so again an annual clear out could save you money in the long run as will making sure that the plates enter the dishwasher or sink with as little residue on them as is possible.

Grease And Fat
Grease and fat build up within domestic drainage systems over many years reducing the internal bore of the pipe until it eventually blocks, this can in part be avoided by being careful about the amount of grease and fat entering the system but it is virtually impossible to eradicate at source.

Dishwashers should in theory help breakdown the grease and fat due to the high temperatures they work at though i suspect that people are generally a little less careful about the amount of debris they load into the dishwasher compared to the sink.

The most common area for grease and fat to build up is in the kitchen waste gully, this is because the gully has a water trap which allows the grease to stand and cool, gullies are designed for access so they can be occasionally cleaned however armed with your marigolds and the best will in the world you will still struggle to reach the far side of the gully and its outlet. Industrial and commercial kitchens which produce large amounts of grease and fat should be fitted with a grease trap in order to comply with UK building control regs.

Blocked Toilets
Never ever, ever use one of those toilet flush blocks that clips over the side of the toilet bowl especially if you have kids in the house, buy the ones that fit in the toilet cistern instead they are no more expensive and can`t get knocked into the toilet. Most toilet blockages are due to a foreign object being lodged in the u bend or too much paper being used, on modern syphonic toilets the syphonic action can fail causing solids and paper to hold in the pan.

More often than not when we are called to a blocked toilet it is not actually the toilet that is the problem, the problem will be outside and further down the system but the water level in the pan is affected due to trapped air within the drainage system.

Sinks, Baths and Showers
If you allow grease, fat, rice and the general left overs from your tea enter the sink you are sooner or later going to be thumbing through a directory looking for a plumber or drainage contractor, those little pipes that leave the sink have traps and bends and usually very little fall so the debris just sits in the pipe work solidifying,

So give the plates a good scrape off before you put them in the sink or dishwasher. Soap and hair are the main causes of blockages in the bath or shower but again a little maintenance can prevent unnecessary blockages, if you see great masses of hair in the plug hole don`t poke it through take it out, you can also remove hair from traps by gently placing a small piece of shaped wire into the trap and rotating & retrieving it.

Defective Underground Pipe Work
Properties built before the 1960`s generally have vitrified clay pipes at length`s of 600/700mm, these pipes are collar and spigot with the spigot end of one pipe sitting in the collar of the next and so on, from the 1960`s onwards newer systems were jointed using rubbers sealed plastic collars and the clay pipe lengths increased , with plastic pipe work coming in 6mtr lengths. However for many years there was little if any specification with regard to pipe bedding and back fill, if there was any specification it was usually ignored and pipes were broken on installation or disturbed when back filled and as a result leak, move or collapse leading to solids snagging and blocking the system.

Broken And Fractured Pipe Work
Vitrified clay pipe work is basically earthenware and is therefore fairly brittle, because there was no specification on bedding materials there is often settlement to some degree and if the joints hold particularly well you tend to get stress fractures, these can be longitudinal or circumferential and like a stepped joint they allow water loss, root ingress and can be snagging points, unfortunately extensive jetting of such defects can accelerate the deterioration of the system. Similarly a misplaced brick or piece of masonry making contact with the pipe when back filling would lead to a hairline fracture which in the following years developed into a major defect.

Accidental Damage To Drains
These drainage systems can lay there for decades without incident, no root ingress and little if any build up of grease and fat and then wallop !, some fool sticks a bloody great fence post through the middle of it, or builds an extension over the top or moles a new gas pipe through it. There are so many activities that go on that can affect the drainage system and more often than not the offender is not even aware there is a drainage system is in the locality, this is why you take out your Bricks & Mortar Insurance because thankfully the movement on the system beneath you drive the result of years of passing over the top with your car will be covered as accidental damage.

Tree Root Ingress
One of the most common causes of blockages to domestic systems is tree root ingress, disturbed ground such as back filled drainage trenches make easy traveling for roots and it is generally thought that condensation that naturally occurs on the outer wall of the pipe, or moisture from leaking joints attract roots looking for a good nutritious feed, though i still prefer to tell customers that the tree`s find the drains because they can here the running water inside.

The roots gain access to the system via the pipe joints, fractures, cracks and through inspection chamber walls and benching. The majority of the drainage systems within the UK are constructed from collar and spigot vitrified clay pipes, jointed using sand & cement these joints offer little resistance to fine tree roots which once inside develop into tap roots and root masses which reduce the internal bore of the pipe. More modern systems installed using rubber sealed couplings are still prone to root ingress if not protected by a root barrier or surrounded in concrete, though as modern systems are supposed to be flexible surrounding the joint in concrete is generally frowned upon.

The roots inside the pipe work cause solids to snag and build up leading to a blockage, root damaged joints leak into the sub-soil which also supports the pipe work, this leads to movement of the pipe work and more water loss, more damaged joints, more root ingress and so on.

You can read more on drain defects and how to fix them at www.DrainDomain.Com