Backdated Payments if you have a 'soakaway'?

buel

Hi,
I recently heard that you can claim back up to 12 months worth of the 'used water' part of your water bill if your house has a 'soakaway' (apparently, most new build houses do?)
Please can anyone shed some light on this please?
Also, what exactly is a 'soakaway' please?

stef73

Its a hole in the ground lined with a visqueen membrane on sides and bottom , filled with different sizes if gravel then covered with visqueen , then soil then . Your waste water from roof is then diverted into it . You only get a discount if all your water from roof goes into it . Mine only serves the rear of the house

Cardew

If you search for 'Surface Water Drainage'(SWD) on here you will find loads of threads.

Essentially the 'default' position of all water companies is that your surface water(from gutters, patios, etc) enters the main sewer; so you pay extra on your bill - the method of collection varies with each company. For instance Severn Trent have 3 fixed rates for flat/terrace, semi or detached - these are £26/£53/£79

As you say for many years it would not normally have been possible to get planning permission for houses unless that surface water did not enter the sewer. The normal method is to have a soakaway - as said above it is basically a big pit under the garden or elsewhere filled with rubble/gravel. Unless you saw the houses being built you probably would not know it existed.

You can normally claim back to the April of the current year.

Before people start criticising the water companies they have no option on the 'default' position - it is laid down in law. Also it makes no difference to the water companies if you pay that charge or not. The way their finances are regulated by Ofwat, if they lose xx£thousands in SWD revenue, they simply can charge extra for their other charges.

Gothicfairy

To claim:
Call your water company and ask for a surface water drainage claim form. Fill that out and supply a drawing of the property to include the down pipes from the guttering and where your soakaway is ( or where you think it is)
The water company will then either visit your property or do further checks, if you have a soakaway your bill will be reviewed from the 1st of April in the year you claimed.So if you want 2010 back you need to claim now because if you leave it much longer it will only run from this April.

Clarky_Cat_2

buel wrote: »

Hi,
I recently heard that you can claim back up to 12 months worth of the 'used water' part of your water bill if your house has a 'soakaway' (apparently, most new build houses do?)
Please can anyone shed some light on this please?
Also, what exactly is a 'soakaway' please?

Untrue, on the majority of new developments, surface water from properties enters the sewerage system.

Cardew

Clarky_Cat wrote: »

Untrue, on the majority of new developments, surface water from properties enters the sewerage system.

I wonder if we are at cross purposes here. By sewers I mean surface water entering the foul sewer - not a system that just carries surface water.

Surface water shall not be disposed of to foul sewer. Disposal of surface water can have a significant impact on sewer flooding. Please refer to your Planning and Building Regulations conditions of approval (if any) and to the Hierarchy for surface water disposal as described in Building Regulations Approved Document H3 Section 2.
Administration and Inspection Fees

The relevant Building Regulations are here:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADH_2002.pdf

They state that surface water should go to soakaways unless not practical. A water course is another option subject to Environmental approval.

Building regs for extensions state surface water will go to a soakaway.

I spoke to my local planning officer recently about this subject(long story) and he stated that planning permission will not be given for surface water to enter sewers on developments.

Discharges to combined sewers should be avoided. Scottish Water will only accept surface water into a combined system in exceptional circumstances, and we would expect Scottish Water and the applicant to ensure that all reasonable efforts are made to remove surface water from the combined sewer.

To be fair I don't know what happens in every area, but my understanding is the same as the OP's in that the majority of new houses

Clarky_Cat_2

Cardew wrote: »

I wonder if we are at cross purposes here. By sewers I mean surface water entering the foul sewer - not a system that just carries surface water.

Yes, I think we are! When I put 'sewerage system', this included surface water sewers.

My understanding is that if any surface water from a property enters a public sewer (a sewer that has been adopted and maintained by a Sewerage Undertaker), then a SWD charge is raised. The type of system (foul, combined, surface water) is not relevant.