Open gully in back of property - how common/bad is this?

MrManager

I am in the process of buying my first property. For drainage it has two open drains (I believe called a "gully") in the back. Both of them have some pipes coming in from the kitchen/bathroom plus some rainwater pipes draining into them too.

I am not from the UK and I have never seen pipes from bathrooms/kitchens draining into open holes in the ground before. Is this a common thing here? Do they not cause problems with smells or get blocked over time? I know that the toilet waste goes through a separate pipe, but I would still imagine that you wouldn't necessarily want to have dirty water from the sinks/appliances out in the open. And one of them does look like it had recently gotten blocked.

My surveyor also highlighted that the rainwater pipes draining into the same place goes against building regs. How worried should I be about that? He makes it sound like this wouldn't be a huge issue.

Alan2020

Kitchen and toilet goes to the waste water treatment plant 
rain doesn’t 
it’s separate in newer 1960etc properties but can be combined in older ones where rain water was also treated 

it should not smell, there is a water trap in there like your toilet. It only gets blocked if you pour fats and food down it. Put a strainer on your kitchen, no food or oil in it, use detergent when washing up and occasionally drop some drain cleaner in to clean it via the sink

yoy can get a plastic cover to cover it

FreeBear

MrManager said: - so the only problem with the rainwater pipes emptying into it is that the rainwater will get treated when it doesn't really need to be?

If a lot of properties dump rain water in to the sewer, it could overwhelm the system and lead to raw sewerage being forced out of the system. For this reason, you are not allowed to discharge rain water in to a foul water sewer, but....

Some sewerage systems are designated a "combined sewer" - For these, it is perfectly legal to discharge rain water in to them. Current building regulations specifically allow for this when there is no other alternative.

frogglet

Are you sure its not just rainwater draining into a ditch.
All other water should be going to be treated.
Is the house connected to mains sewage or does it have a septic tank?

frogglet

Oh I see now. It was usual for all water to run to the sewage system.
Nowadays housing estates are built with two systems, one for rainwater and one for dirty water.
If that drain smells it wants cleaning out.

greatcrested

But yes, the arragement is not uncommon.

Make sure the 'gully' (it's not actually a gully but nevermind!) does not get blocked, esp in autumn by leaves etc. You've got a removable plastic grill on that by the looks so

a) keep it clear and

b) if the gully gets blocked or smells, remove the grill, put on decent gloves and clear it out.

greatcrested

MrManager said:

Thanks for the advice! There is another "gully" nearby that does look like it has been blocked recently (but should now work) so this has clearly been an issue.

Out of curiosity, what is this thing actually called?

@Mickey666: Isn't the sewage charge usually just your water usage multiplied by some factor? They don't actually measure it separately, do they?

Yes but if rainwater from the roof is also going in then they multiply by a bigger factor! (or something like that)

deannagone

We just called it 'the drain'.  Had a similar arrangement.  And yes, it does need clearing out occassionally (yes with gloves lol).  Not a nice job but worth it.

frogglet

Having had a water meter and connected to mains sewers. Its not measured in and out. 
They assume what goes in also comes out.  So watering your garden is still counted as going down the sewer.
We now have a septic tank and no water meter. So are  given. a charge for the water provided not the outlet.

Doozergirl

MrManager said:

Thanks for the advice! There is another "gully" nearby that does look like it has been blocked recently (but should now work) so this has clearly been an issue.

Out of curiosity, what is this thing actually called?

@Mickey666: Isn't the sewage charge usually just your water usage multiplied by some factor? They don't actually measure it separately, do they?

It is called a gully. 

The way you headed your post, it read like you had a gully of a ditch variety running through the back garden. 

As it is, it's exactly what a builder would call a gully.  If you google gully, you'll get pictures of what you have, just smaller because drains aren't built quite like yours anymore.  

You should run a CCTV survey to the drains just to make sure everything is going to the right places.  If, for example, that is the storm water gully, you'd be polluting the environment by putting waste water into it.   

If it's storm water going into the waste water gully, it's okay if there isn't a separate storm water drain to the house.  It does depend on age, usually.  

silvercar

Mickey666 said:

MrManager said:

@Mickey666: Isn't the sewage charge usually just your water usage multiplied by some factor? They don't actually measure it separately, do they?

 Correct.  They assume that all water supplied ends up as 'grey water' into the sewer system, so they don't need to measure it as such.  If you discharge surface (rain) water into the sewerage system then they will charge you an additional amount.

I'm not sure if the charges are standardised across all water companies.  If you're not connected to the mains sewer then you'll only pay for the water supplied.  

We have rain water going into the gulley, exactly as pictured. Our house was built in the 1930s. 

In our area there is no extra charge for rainwater going into the sewerage system.