Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/904738
18 | DECEMBER 2017 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk • THE LEGAL POSITION: WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS THE MISCONECTION? • Misconnections which are wholly on private land are the responsibility of the owner to put right. The power to enforce this lies with the local authority under Section 59 of the Building Act 1984, which states that drainage on private land must not cause an environmental nuisance or be prejudicial to public health. • For these private misconnections, it makes no difference whether the misconnection is internal or external to the house, or is above or below ground. However, the position of the misconnection may indicate who was originally at fault for the mistake (e.g. a plumber or building contractor) which may give the householder grounds for legal recourse against them. • Where a misconnection is outside the boundary (or curtilage) of a property, or occurs a er the point where a property's drains combine with those from neighbouring properties, then this is a public misconnection and is the responsibility of the water company to correct. Many of these drains and sewers were privately owned until the Adoption of Private Sewers Regulations in 2011 moved responsibility for them to water utilities • Where a misconnection has been identified and a householder refuses to correct it, the local authority could ultimately decide to take them to a Magistrates Court to enforce the work under the Building Act. The penalties in such a case would involve paying for the cost of the work and legal costs • In cases where significant pollution has been caused, the Environment Agency could also prosecute. However, it would have to be proven that an individual source was solely responsible for the pollution, which is unlikely to be the case for a domestic misconnection in a well- populated area. The Works: wastewater and drainage networks • STATISTICS: ESTIMATED MISCONNECTIONS BY WATER COMPANY AREA Above ground external misconnection Internal waste pipe to internal pipe Underground misconnection within curtilage Underground misconnection outside curtilage Anglian Water 15,900 6,700 600 900 Welsh Water 4,800 2,100 200 400 Northumbrian 6,300 2,500 200 500 Scottish Water 10,400 4,700 400 300 Severn Trent 28,400 11,700 1,000 1,300 Southern Water 10,600 4,300 400 500 South West 2,400 1,000 100 200 Thames Water 32,300 13,600 1,000 1,200 United Utilities 14,400 5,700 500 1,100 Wessex Water 6,500 2,900 200 300 Yorkshire Water 9,800 4,200 300 500 TOTAL 141,800 59,400 4,900 7,200 (source: UKWIR report, 2013)