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If you have a blocked septic pipe or sewage drain outside your house, here's what to do next.
Typical signs of a clogged sewer line in your home include gurgling noises or water levels rising. These symptoms can come from anywhere where water leaves the house, such as a toilet, sink, washing machine or dishwasher.
How you deal with your blocked drain will depend on whether it’s caused by a blockage in the main public sewer line, or in your own household system.
The property boundary shows the separation between the land that you or your landlord owns, and the land that is publicly owned.
Private drains are usually owned by the property owner and maintenance is their responsibility.
It’s our responsibility to maintain the public sewers. In total, we have over 40,000km of sewers within our network.
The property boundary shows the separation between the land that you or your landlord owns, and the land that is publicly owned.
Private drains are usually owned by the property owner and maintenance is their responsibility.
It’s our responsibility to maintain the public sewers. In total, we have over 40,000km of sewers within our network.
Follow these steps when there is a blockage in a sewer pipe
If they are, call us on 0330 303 0368 (calls charged at a local rate). If your neighbour isn’t having the same problem, it might still be our responsibility. Contact us and we'll let you know.
Keep yourself, children and pets out of the contaminated area. Wash and disinfect the shoes you've been wearing and also wash your hands. It's unlikely but if you do feel ill, contact your GP.
When you call, we’ll ask you specific questions to try to work out if the blocked sewage pipe is in a public pipe or part of your own system. If we can’t work out where the problem is, we’ll visit your property to investigate.
We'll do a basic wash down of the area. We'll clear the blockage outside the property and make sure everything is flowing properly. We'll also clear your garden of any water or debris and disinfect hard surfaces – this should remove any bacteria within 24-48 hours.
You’ll need to sign a consent form giving us permission to do the work. We may charge you if it's not the first time we've been called out and the blockage is in the same place, we'll explain this before our visit. If the problem will take longer than half an hour for us to solve, you’ll need to get your own contractor.
You’ll need to hire a drains specialist. You may need to speak to your household insurers too. Get several quotes before hiring anyone. If the problem is in a shared section of the sewer, please don’t pay a private contractor as they aren't allowed to work on public sewers. Contact us instead.
Here’s a list of things you can do around your home to keep your drains moving freely and avoid blockages:
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