There are many private sewers that could be made suitable for adoption at reasonable cost. Requests for adoption have
been and will be considered sympathetically. The first step is to determine the condition of the pumping station, sewer or lateral drain and/or associated manholes offered for adoption. Carrying out a Close Circuit Television survey (CCTV) and a physical inspection can do this.
The owner(s) of the apparatus is responsible for the cost of the survey site inspection, preparation of sewer location plans and any preliminary cleansing. Following receipt of the fees and drawings detailed below, the anticipated costs of these items will be forwarded to the owner(s). Following the survey, a schedule of required repairs will be prepared and costed.
If the sewer or lateral drain is defective, you will be required to bring it up to the specified standard, following which we will make a further inspection (again, the cost of the inspection(s) are the responsibility of the owner(s) of the apparatus). The standards required are those set out in the current issue of Sewers for Adoption – a Design and Construction Guide for Developers. Copies are available from the Water Research Centre website at www.wrcplc.co.uk/sfa
There are sewers where the cost of the necessary repairs will be more than the owners are prepared, or able, to meet.
Additionally there will be sewers which were so constructed that remedial works to raise them to the required standard are not possible; re-laying may be the only solution. In these circumstances the sewers are likely to remain unadopted.
This does not mean that serious defects will be left unattended. The local authority in its public health role has powers that it can use to carry out urgent repairs. However, the cost of such repairs would be recovered from the owners of the sewer. Urgent repairs such as repairing sections of sewers in danger of imminent collapse are unlikely by themselves to improve the condition to a standard where adoption is possible.