An Inspector's Guide to Sewerage Law - 3rd Edition
FWR-03R
November 2011

This new edition of the well-known pocket guide is intended to assist water company staff and other practitioners in England and Wales to understand the complex subject of sewerage law and to help them in discussions with customers and clients. It describes the law as it relates to the ownership and maintenance responsibility for drains and sewers, and to the duties and powers of sewerage undertakers.

The first section of the guide provides easily-understood definitions of the most common technical terms relating to drains and sewers which are used in the various Water Industry and Public Health Acts.

In succeeding sections, the guide deals, respectively, with

• Duties of sewerage undertakers,
• Powers of sewerage undertakers and District, Unitary or County Councils,
• Ownership and maintenance responsibilities.

A final section contains 11 two-colour diagrams showing various residential development and drainage arrangements to illustrate the typical ownership and maintenance responsibilities for sewers for each case. The relevant Parliamentary Acts are referenced in each section.

The new edition of the guide incorporates all the relevant legislative changes that have come into effect since the publication of the second edition in 2000, including the private sewer provisions of the Water Act 2003 and the new arrangements for adoption in the Floods and Water Management Act 2010.

The guide also covers the new sustainable urban drainage (SUDS) provisions of the Floods and Water Management Act 2010 that are expected to come into force in 2012.

Copies of this report are available from the Foundation, price £12.50, less 20% to FWR Members.