Getting to the bottom of sewer blockages

Every year thousands of homes and gardens in the North West suffer from sewer flooding. One of the main reasons for this is drains getting blocked with wipes and other items that should go in the bin, and not the toilet. Blockages can force waste back into homes and gardens, and also end up in our rivers and on our beaches.

Over the next few weeks, we’re out and about in your area trying to get to the bottom of the problem, by conducting ‘spider’ surveys. They’re not the eight legged, scary kind, our ‘spiders’ are special nets which we put inside our manholes to catch the items that are blocking up our sewers. We’ll then use the results to look at ways of reducing the blockages causing flooding in homes and gardens in the local area.

The surveys will be taking place for around 12 weeks, and it shouldn’t cause you any disruption; you might not even see us.

You can do your bit to help too! You should have received a handy watermen leaflet (PDF 1,123 KB opens in a new window) from us, which gives you lots of information and tips about what not to flush down your toilet, and put down your sinks.

For more information, check out our not to flush page here, or if you would like to speak to someone about this, our contact numbers can be found here.