Any advice regarding surface water charges and how to avoid them?
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I am moving to a new property which currently has 2 pipes going into the groud for surface water drainage and have heard about the possibility of converting these pipes into draining into a water butt and avoiding surface water drainage costs. This will be suitable for us as there is a large garden and we are on a meter. I am currently billed by South West Water. Any advice appreciated.
Answers (9)
Haven't heard of surface water charges before. But I can say that when on a meter a water butt is great. In fact I have just watered the garden using one of mine. I have one at the front and one at the back. It's 100 litre I think and it filled up over night! I was amazed.
i don't know if this is what you mean but i do know that and pipe breakages that occur on or under your property or home are your responsabilityso if you make any changes please make sure it is done properly or you could be hit with a hefty and unexpected bill
I can't imagine they'd let you get away with paying nothing at all but if you have a meter then using a water butt to collect rain water is an excellent idea.
i would think you would possibly need to check with the counsil about this
To avoid paying the charges and be able to claim the rebate you must ensure that no surface water enters the public sewer. To do this you would need to consider building soakaways and other ways of ensuring that no garden water returns to the public sewer. Your sewerage company may be able to offer advice.
Yes, do as Donk says. We have soakaways but were being charged for surface drainage when we moved into the house. A call to the water company was all that was needed for them to check and then give a rebate as no water is entering the sewerage system.
What are soakaways?
Soakaways are a means of surface water disposal. They are usually made as a pit filled with rubble or lined with dry jointed masonry or perforated concrete ring units which allow the water for, say a roof to drain away into the ground rather than into a main drain.
Water butts are a great idea - we have 5 of different sizes and they are a great help for watering all my containers.
How much do you pay for surface water?
I used to live in a private house with its own soak-aways and own water supply and so never ever had to pay for these charges, unfortunately due to change of circumstances I have to pay for them now.Saving water for own use is a great way forward and can only save money.
Water board once tried to charge me a larger share of a repair job because I had a soakaway. As it happened I did not have the soakaway it was in a neighbour's garden (also affected by the repair job). Suddenly it was not important and we had to split the cost between us equally. Sometimes life is so unfair!!
There is lots of info on the Ofwat website(water regulator) that may help you with this: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/chargesbills/prs_web_swdpos
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