raw sewage river in garden please help

emma.cook3

Raw sewage has leaked from the inspection cover in my neighbours garden and down our garden in a stream. They are away but we called yorkshire water and they are coming out tommorrow. I would like to know
1) does my neighbour have to pay for the sewer to be fixed or will the water company pay? They are pensioners and this has happened once before (but the sewage stayed on their land).
2) Who will pay for the clean up of our garden? I read that it needs to be done quickly and by a specialist company.

If you can help I would appreciate it, really worried about the cost and we have 3 young children and a dog so also worried about making our garden safe again.

keystone

The first priority is to get the blockage cleared and the mess cleared up. YW will address both issues. As to who pays its down to whether its a private drain thats blocked or a public drain and I can't tell that from here but its a second order priority to find out.

Cheers

HappyMJ

Sewage breaks down quite quickly in the open air so it should be OK after a few days.

I'm suprised they are coming out tomorrow. They should call back within 2 hours. Ring them back and insist they come out now.

You can claim compensation if a public sewer has overflowed into your garden of £75. They will when they come out help you clean up and disinfect.

emma.cook3

HappyMJ wrote: »

Sewage breaks down quite quickly in the open air so it should be OK after a few days.

I'm suprised they are coming out tomorrow. They should call back within 2 hours. Ring them back and insist they come out now.

You can claim compensation if a public sewer has overflowed into your garden of £75. They will when they come out help you clean up and disinfect.

They did phone back within 2 hours but said they couldn't come til tomorrow. I would have insisted but my husband talked to them and he isn't as pushy as me.

emma.cook3

Does anyone know how much it would cost to clear. I read on the internet that it needed doing properly if we want the children to use the garden.

keystone

emma.cook3 wrote: »

Does anyone know how much it would cost to clear. I read on the internet that it needed doing properly if we want the children to use the garden.

YW will be able to address that for you as already advised and what they can't get rid of then, as also as advised by someone else other than me, it breaks down quickly anyway. A spot of Jeyes Fluid works wonders anyway and thats what YW will spray around the inspection chamber when they've cleared the blockage anyway. Don't believe everything you read on teh interwebz. I think you might be stressing too much about this aspect. Your kids don't need a totally sterile environment in the garden and in any event there's dog wee, fox poo and all sorts of other unmentionables out there already which you aren't going to clear up in a month of Sundays.

Cheers

Rovver125

If they are away & it's flooded that would suggest it is public, so YW should cover all costs.

If it's a private drain, they can advise that & walk away without clearing, or as it is spilling into a watercourse, clear & then bill the property owner. This is totally at the discretion of the water co & they all seem to deal with things differently to each other!

I'm guessing the spillage is across your lawn? It's difficult to clear a spillage that isn't on hard ground, but can be done reasonably effectively. The liquid element of the sewage will dissipate into the ground and break down quite quickly, but solids, rag, paper etc need to be picked up and removed.

When I deal with a spillage on grass, I always first remove the solids etc, then liberally douse the area with industrial sanitiser and blast the whole area with pressured water. This will leave someones lawn saturated for a day or two but helps to start the process of getting it into the ground to break down!

As said above, it's totally un-acceptable for them to fob you off until tommorow. A surcharging sewer/drain is classed as an emergency in the waste water industry and all water co's have 24/7 cover to deal with this. It's even more un-acceptable if it's spilling into a watercourse!

emma.cook3

He came today and scooped it all up and sprayed the lawn with water and said it would be fine tomorrow. Not sure I want the baby on there though. Thanks for the advice, minor crisis over

Jaynne

I wouldn't necessarily stick your baby on there tomorrow but any bacteria and viruses from human waste aren't generally adapted to live outside so they will all very quickly. Also as others have stated one of the most powerful disinfectants is sunlight - you can sterilise hospital equipment with a strong UV lamp so give it a week and any bacteria not living in solids will be dead.

emma.cook3

We do have a serious sunlight shortage. I. Think we have had about 30 minutes this week. Lots of rain though.

Rovver125

emma.cook3 wrote: »

We do have a serious sunlight shortage. I. Think we have had about 30 minutes this week. Lots of rain though.

This is one occasion when you should see the rain as a positive thing as it will be a brilliant help with dissipating and breaking down any nasties left on your lawn! I can't imagine you or your babby will be spending much time out there at the moment and it will be 100% fine to use again by the time we get some proper garden weather!