Public sewer

Bigcheeze

Are property owners or the council responsible for issues with public sewers running through their property ? e.g. if there's a bad smell coming from a man hole in the garden, is it the council's responsibility to deal with it ?

whadafook

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Are property owners or the council responsible for issues with public sewers running through their property ? e.g. if there's a bad smell coming from a man hole in the garden, is it the council's responsibility to deal with it ?

Had a problem like this in my Garden. We called out a private company ourselves who unblocked it. We are at the end of a slope with three houses above us all running into the same drain. All the neighbours contributed to cost. Reckon it was quicker than waiting on the council

Owryan

Ring the council.

Live in carlow and there is a sewer cover in my back garden . Anytime there is an issue I just ring the council and they send a private drain company out to sort it .

housetypeb

Owryan wrote: »

Ring the council.

.. I just ring the council and they send a private drain company out to sort it .

Surprised at that as when I had a similar problem,Cork city council told me it was my problem.
My back garden had a manhole which was the end point for a run of four houses,the drain then ran out under my house to connect to a public sewer under the street.
They are only responsible for the public sewer -anything else is considered a drain and is the householders problem,they have a good website that explains it nicely.

Of course if it's a public sewer running through the back garden it's their problem.

housetypeb

http://www.corkcity.ie/services/environmentrecreation/forms/Private_Drains_Information_Leaflet_June12.pdf

Here is Cork city councils view on sewers and drains.

Bigcheeze

housetypeb wrote: »

http://www.corkcity.ie/services/environmentrecreation/forms/Private_Drains_Information_Leaflet_June12.pdf

Here is Cork city councils view on sewers and drains.

Yes found a similar document on Fingal's website. Looks like I need to deal with it. Their system of dividing up the cost between households sharing the "drain" is fine in theory but completely impractical as no one is going to get drawings of the drains.

housetypeb

You can go into the city council office and they should have plans of the local drain system and connections to the sewer for your area,as any connection to the sewer requires permission. You can also phone them,give them your address and they will(in Cork city councils case,anyway) email them to you.

engineermike

Hi,
The issue of common drains & manhole on your property is something your engineer should really have made you aware of as a point of note - with possible issues occurring at the manhole / inspection chamber if located within the boundary of your property.
It is like most things - your responsibility if it falls within the boundary of your property.

The problem of gaining drainage plans can be avoided with a small bit of detective work. Common drains have a capacity of how many houses can be 'T' d in together. -
So if the common drain inspection chamber is in your garden (and drains are normally run in straight lines) - the furthest house should be a maximum of 22 meters away at the point where their external drain starts.
- These are the build regs, to allow clearing of blockages etc.

- If your houses are in a linear row, you should be able to work out no. of properties on that line of common drain & check the next few properties along and locate the inspection chamber for that next group of properties.

The arrangement or layout of properties in your estate may vary (crescent shape etc) But the governing factors are that drains are laid in straight lines where possible
- Inspection chambers are max 22 m away from start of property external drain
- Manholes (where a man can climb in to work at drain level) - Max 45 m away from the start of the property external drain.

Also your drain clearing company should be able to advise on the possible layout.
mike f