Kitchen sink water draining to surface water drain

[Harry Bloomfield]

Here we have two entirely separate drainage systems toilet, sinks, baths etc. use one. Guttering, rain water uses a separate system. Next door discharge their kitchen and shower into the rain water system drain, on my side of the fence and they regularly block this up with their discharge, flooding my garden especially when there is rain.

I assume the rain water drain will simply be discharged untreated into the river, where as the other will go to a treatment works?

 

[Nige F]

I assume the rain water drain will simply be discharged untreated into the river, where as the other will go to a treatment works?

Your assumption is correct. Or to a (communal )soakaway somewhere. Your water co. or local council should have the plans of what goes where.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So what are the legalities?

 

[Notch7]

Here we have two entirely separate drainage systems toilet, sinks, baths etc. use one. Guttering, rain water uses a separate system. Next door discharge their kitchen and shower into the rain water system drain, on my side of the fence and they regularly block this up with their discharge, flooding my garden especially when there is rain.

I assume the rain water drain will simply be discharged untreated into the river, where as the other will go to a treatment works?

Tell em to put their foul water into the sewer, where it should go.

Whatbis the rain water drain system you have -storm drain or soakaway?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Tell em to put their foul water into the sewer, where it should go.

Whatbis the rain water drain system you have -storm drain or soakaway?

It goes into a storm drain, both are around 8" internal diameter, both pass down the rear of the property. I have mentioned this to them before, but they take no notice. It is a single shared fall pipe, down from the joined rain water gutter, but the actual gulley is on the mid point. They added a tall fence fixed to their side of the down pipe, leaving the gulley on our side and they built their garden level higher than ours, so if the gulley becomes choked with their kitchen waste - as often happens, we have our garden flooded with foul smelling water and rain water due to the blocked gulley.

Is this something the water authority might be interested in?

 

[bobasd]

typicly both houses would have been newbuilt with their own kitchen gullies.
why dont they use their own waste gulley?

 

[Nige F]

Is this something the water authority might be interested in?

They certainly would, and they are able to ascertain if "grey water" is polluting a storm drain - then they can search for the offending connection. In a similar way that leaks in supply pipes can be located.

 

[^woody^]

Give your water company a call. They will deal with this very quickly.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

typicly both houses would have been newbuilt with their own kitchen gullies.
why dont they use their own waste gulley?

They remodelled their kitchen, so the kitchen sink was up against the party wall and the far end from the original, with a french window in the middle and a full width a patio along the rear of the house. That meant an above ground pipe to the original drain wasn't possible, then they added a new shower on the first floor, also draining into the fall pipe from the gutter.

 

[bobasd]

thanks for that but i dont understand - i thiught these were in a terrace of houses? if they are then wkeres their soil pipe?
this is where photos with the original post help a bit.

but it sounds like the advice in the two posts above to call the utility is way to go

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

No, semi's...

thanks for that but i dont understand - i thiught these were in a terrace of houses? if they are then wkeres their soil pipe?

No, semi's. The soil pipe is at the far side of the french windows (actually patio doors), which is where the kitchen sink's were designed to drain. Doing the drainage job properly, would have involved taking up their patio to run a pipe underground to the drain, so they just piped it into the shared fall pipe gutter on our side of the fence and left us to clear the mess up regularly from their kitchen waste, or be flooded when the rain water couldn't get away due to the gulley being choked up.

 

[Leofric]

Whatever might have been convenient for your neighbour they should not have connected waste water into a rainwater pipe. Even with a combined drainage system you do not run waste water to mix with rainwater above ground level. As others say , inform your local water authority and don't get involved with your neighbour's problems , they should just do it properly.