As with drinking water, the importance of effective sewerage and wastewater treatment for public health and the environment means that our sewerage activities are highly regulated.

We have one of the longest coastlines of any water and sewerage company in the sector and so having high quality coastal water quality is especially important for the Welsh tourism industry which employs an average of 100,000 people and makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy. Since 1995 we have invested over £1 billion on upgrading or building new wastewater treatment works right across our region which has helped Wales secure European blue flag awards.

Sewer pipes – whose responsibility?

Welsh Water is responsible for sewerage pipes from the point at which they join the public sewerage system. Many properties drain through a private sewer in order to reach this public sewerage system.

Private sewers are, in the main, sewers that have not been built to adoptable standards and responsibility for their maintenance and repair lies with the owners of the properties connected to them. In recent years, a number of problems concerning private sewers have arisen; not least the fact that many households aren’t aware that their property is served by a private sewer until there is a problem with it and it needs to be repaired. When this situation arises, it can often cause significant concern to those affected as there are often high costs involved in carrying out repairs.

The Welsh Assembly Government has been working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and other key stakeholder to try and find a means of resolving the situation. To prevent the situation from being further exacerbated a protocol was agreed in 2002 that encourages house-builders to construct all new sewers to adoptable standards. With regard to a longer-term solution a decision was made “in principle” by the Welsh Assembly Government in February 2007 that ownership of private sewers and lateral drains should be transferred to sewerage companies. Please click here to read more information.