Blocked drains?

How do I know if it is my drain that is blocked?

  • If your drain is blocked you will usually know because your waste will stop going away when you flush the toilet, or gullies outside will overflow. There will also probably be a smell. Private drains/sewers are the responsibility of the owner-occupier and any other properties connected to it.
  • Drains may block because they are in poor physical condition and normal contents are not being cleared.
  • They may be in satisfactory condition but have been abused by flushing away disposable nappies or other items such as plastic bags that should never be placed into the sewerage system.
  • Excessive disposal of cooking fats and oils, along with other domestic products and DIY materials such as plaster, can cause blockage of the pipe work. Tree roots entering a broken drain can also be a problem.

What are Drains and Sewers?

  • Drain: A single pipeline, which conveys foul sewerage and/or surface water runoff from a single property. A drain is still a drain even if it goes past the boundary of your property until it joins a sewer.
  • Sewer: A pipeline, which normally conveys foul sewage and/or surface water runoff from more than one property. Sewers may either be public or private.
  • Public Sewer: A sewer, which has been adopted as a public sewer or was in use before the 1st October 1937 and is therefore the responsibility of the Statutory Undertaker.
  • Private Sewer: A sewer, which is not a public sewer. A private sewer is normally the responsibility of the owner/s of the property, which it serves. It may still be a private sewer under the public highway until it joins the public sewer.

Your home is being serviced by either a sanitary or a storm sewer, or by a combined sewer, a single pipe which conveys both sanitary sewage and storm water. Local sanitary, storm and combined sewers, including local trunks, are the responsibility of the various Operations and Maintenance Units serving Victoria’s communities.

Sanitary sewers

  • Sanitary sewers transport wastewater that we release from a drain, toilet, sink or appliance such as a clothes or dishwasher. This wastewater from residences and businesses flows to treatment plants where it is cleaned before being released into the Ocean.

Storm sewers

  • Storm sewers capture rainwater or snowmelt from residential and commercial properties. This water flows into nearby watercourses or the lake. Watercourses include creeks, streams and rivers – natural, concrete channels or underground pipes – that carry water, including storm water and snowmelt from catch basins into the Ocean.

Combined sewers

  • If your home is located in one of the city’s older areas, the sewer serving your property may be a combined sewer. In a combined sewer, there is only one pipe which carries both sanitary and storm drainage. During dry weather, combined sewers carry all contents to treatment plants. However, during wet weather, the volume of water may exceed the treatment plant’s capacity and some of the water overflows untreated into the lake. City’s has a “Combined Sewer Elimination Program” aimed at installing storm sewer pipes beside existing combined sewers. The storm sewers will carry storm water and snowmelt and the old combined sewer will handle sanitary sewage only, eliminating the overflow in wet weather.

Don’t wait until its’s too late! Call DrainScope to Inspect & Clean your Perimeter & Sewer systems Today.

call today 250.590.1535

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