Sewers
Severn Trent Water provide and maintain systems of public sewers that take water from premises and drains to sewage treatment works. They also collect surface water run-off from roofs, roads and other paved areas and transport it to suitable watercourses and rivers through similar surface water sewerage systems.
Types of sewers
There are three types of sewers:
- Foul sewers carry the waste from toilets, water which has been used for cooking and washing and effluent from industrial premises, to sewer treatment works.
- Surface water sewers carry rainwater which runs off roofs and roads directly into rivers, watercourses and eventually the sea.
- Combined sewers carry both the rainwater run-off from roofs and roads and water which has been used for domestic and industrial purposes to treatment works.
Sewer pipe ownership
The drains that carry the household's waste water and rainwater are normally the responsibility of the owner/occupier until it joins another drain where it becomes the responsibility of Severn Trent Water.
Private or unadopted sewers
There are some sewers within North Warwickshire that are not owned by Severn Trent Water. These are called private or unadopted sewers. These sewers may have been built with the intention of becoming publicly owned, but the owner or developer did not wish them to become public sewers or they failed to acceptable standards. Consequently they have remained privately owned, either by the developer or jointly by the owners of the properties which they serve.