Raw sewage in back yard

girlinabox

Hi all,

I'm hoping you can assist. We are currently renting a house from a family member but as they are really helping us out we don't want to trouble them with this...

Back in the summer we noticed that the drain below the kitchen window was full/overflowing, and upon opening the large shore/manhole nearby we found it to be full (and I mean full :eek:) of raw sewage and lots of what looked like baby wipes. We rodded all 3 manholes on the property and cleared the wipes out but OH thinks the fall on the pipes may be wrong, as the water level in the shores wouldn't go down fully, and the rods were not going in at the angle he'd expected. So we got the level down as much as we could and haven't had any bother with it since up until this week I went out into the garden and found the back kitchen drain full to the brim and raw sewage over near the manhole cover and around the drain.

We're not sure if lifting the covers off and rodding again is going to be worthwhile as there shouldn't be any sort of blockage in there now, possibly the amount of rainfall we've had lately could be the cause?

We don't know what to do about shifting this sewage now and the drain level just will not go down at all.

The house also smells as the drainpipes are sitting in this stagnant water so I'm having to keep plugholes in all sinks to keep the smell away

CakeCrusader

Are you using 'flushable' toilet wipes? Are the drains picking up sewage from your neighbours? If they are municipal drains then they should be the responsibility of the water company, if your neighbours (or you) are using the wipes then they will just carry on getting clogged. It sounds like there's a natural kink in the drain, and the wipes are getting clogged up behind it, stop using wipes and don't use shed loads of loo roll and it will work OK. You do need to unclog it again, sadly. It's highly unlikely to be due to the rain water, it's likely to be more wipes.

greyteam1959

The blockage could be further down the line not necessarily o your property. It could just be backing up onto your property.
You need to work up towards the blockage not down into it or you may make things worse.
If your rods will not go down properly use one of those attachments for a pressure washer.
Be care you don't get a face full of sewage though !
And find out who is flushing baby wipes ( flush able or not ) they are the biggest cause of sewage problems ever invented.

RelievedSheff

If you dont fancy doing it yourself get a drain company in to do it. Or assaid already if it is a shared drain your local water authority should come and clear it.

You do need to find the source of the wipes though and ask them to stop using them. Otherwise the problem will just reoccur.

girlinabox

CakeCrusader wrote: »

Are you using 'flushable' toilet wipes? Are the drains picking up sewage from your neighbours? If they are municipal drains then they should be the responsibility of the water company, if your neighbours (or you) are using the wipes then they will just carry on getting clogged. It sounds like there's a natural kink in the drain, and the wipes are getting clogged up behind it, stop using wipes and don't use shed loads of loo roll and it will work OK. You do need to unclog it again, sadly. It's highly unlikely to be due to the rain water, it's likely to be more wipes.

Thank you for your reply.

We don't use wipes, no. I did previously use wipes (until I realised the environmental impact), my punishment was rodding the sewers and fishing them out on the hottest day of the year :eek:

How would I know if we are picking up the neighbour's sewage?

No wipes have been put down this toilet for around 8 months or so.

girlinabox

greyteam1959 wrote: »

The blockage could be further down the line not necessarily o your property. It could just be backing up onto your property.
You need to work up towards the blockage not down into it or you may make things worse.
If your rods will not go down properly use one of those attachments for a pressure washer.
Be care you don't get a face full of sewage though !
And find out who is flushing baby wipes ( flush able or not ) they are the biggest cause of sewage problems ever invented.

Thank you for your reply.

When we did the rodding last time, we had like 10 metres worth down there and OH said it felt like it was struggling to go over a pipe or something further down towards the road/pavement. We don't have a pressure washer, is there anything else we could use instead? If we have to go rodding again I don't mind too much so long as we can actually get to wherever the issue is! Nobody in this house uses wipes so it definitely isn't us.

girlinabox

RelievedSheff wrote: »

If you dont fancy doing it yourself get a drain company in to do it. Or assaid already if it is a shared drain your local water authority should come and clear it.

You do need to find the source of the wipes though and ask them to stop using them. Otherwise the problem will just reoccur.

Thank you for your reply.

So I contacted Severn Trent Water who have offered to come out and have a look for free. They said that if there is something wrong with their sewer pipes they will clear it, but if they find the cause is a blockage in our drains then they could help but they charge £114. I remember the neighbour telling us that the previous tenant has had loads of issues with the drains over the years but she didn't give any specifics, so I'm thinking baby wipes are not the sole issue (and as i said above, no wipes have been used here for months and months).

Ms_Chocaholic

My understanding (from experience but a different water company) is that if the sewers are shared across several properties like ours is, then the Water Company are obliged to respond to blockages in the shared sewer.

CakeCrusader

More often then not you have a drain going from your property into a main drain, which branches off into the different properties. If there's a blockage in the main drain then it will back up before this. Does anyone else have the same problem? You're responsible for any pipes that are on your property, anything not on your property but which is causing sewage to back up onto your property is the responsibility of the water company, if this makes sense. It's tricky to find the blockage site without using rods or CCTV. If your other half had to unblock close towards the road then it sounds like the issue isn't from your house, so it's the responsibility of the water company. You're not responsible for what other people flush down their loo.