Ofwat Transfers Ownership of All Public & Private Sewer Laterals to Water Companies of England & Wales
SACRAMENTO, Calif., October 1, 2011 – Beginning today ownership of all UK private sewers and lateral drains were transferred to water companies pursuant to the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) 2011 Water Industry Regulations, Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers, which came into effect on July 1, 2011. Ofwat is the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatized water and sewerage industry in England and Wales, and for setting limits on the prices charged for water and sewerage services, taking into account proposed capital investment schemes (such as building new wastewater treatment works) and expected operational efficiency gains.
The transfer of ownership of private laterals, effective October, 1 2011, represents the government’s aim to improve the sewerage system in England and Wales. The regulations seek to address two concerns: first, the perceived unfairness to private sewer owners who pay sewerage charges, but yet are also responsible, often without realising, for the maintenance of private sewers, and second, the financial burden and uncertainty or inability to maintain private pipelines underneath or below third-party owned property.
The regulations apply to all private sewers and lateral drains which drain to the public sewerage system of England and Wales.
Sewers are those which drain sanitary effluent and surface water from more than one building, or buildings within the same service area or curtilage. A lateral drain is that part of a drain which takes sanitary effluent and surface water away from an individual property and which lies outside the curtilage of that property.
From today, all private sewers and lateral drains which drain to a public sewer before July 1, 2011 will be transferred to the regulated sewerage companies. Water companies now own and are responsible for sewers and lateral drains, including those which may not been constructed or maintained to an adoptable standard. The sewerage companies will have no bond or other security to call upon to pay the costs of bringing the sewers and drains up to standard.
It is considered that the change in responsibility will impact on about half of all properties in England and Wales. There are also concerns that water companies will increase bills in response as the transfer of private sewers into company ownership will see the companies take on new responsibilities and costs. There is a fear that there will be an increase in customers’ bills to pay for this extra work.
Harbinder Babra, a spokeswoman from Ofwat is reported as stating that “from 1 October, the companies will have work to assess the state of the sewers. We will not allow any [price] increases until companies are able to provide us with robust evidence on the cost impacts. We will then challenge and scrutinize a company’s proposal to ensure customers get a fair deal and bill increases are kept as low as possible for customers.”
However, Babra also stated that “Companies need to have robust evidence if they are seeking bill increases. They need to plan and understand both the costs and the impact that any change to bills will have on their customers.”
According to information on the website for Consumer Council for Water, the exact effect on bills will be uncertain until the sewerage companies have assessed how many private sewers and lateral drains they are taking on. They will then be able to calculate exact costs and inform their customers of the increases that may be applied to bills.