Application guidance for a new sewer connection

What you need to know, do or check before you apply for a new sewer connection at a home or commercial unit.

Before you begin

Before you are ready to apply for a new sewer connection, you must:

Know where the sewer you want to connect to is
Know the type of connection you need
Have your contractor’s contact details, health and safety policy, a site-specific risk assessment, and a method statement
Ensure your contractor has any relevant licenses from your local council
Know if there are any pipes or assets belonging to us that need to be moved
Have permission to lay a pipe on land owned by a third party if necessary
Have evidence to show the need for a surface water sewer connection if you’re not using a soakaway
Be planning to begin work in the next 6 months

Do not begin your application if you don’t have all the necessary information.

You need our approval for each connection you make to existing sewers. You will have to pay a fee for each connection.

You can download network maps from Digdat.co.uk to find the location of our pipes and where you can connect to.

There are two types of sewer connection:

Direct: any connection that is made to any public sewer
Indirect: a connection to a private drain that then goes into a public sewer

We'll need to know if you are making a direct connection or an indirect connection.

The application costs for these connections differ so you need to be aware which is required before you apply.

There are two types of wastewater:

Foul sewage: used water from toilets, showers, baths, sinks and washing machines
Surface water: rainwater collected from roofs, driveways, patios

Usually, you’ll need to be connected to the sewers to make sure your used water is taken away safely.

Soakaways are usually used to collect and remove surface water. They let the rainwater drain away into local watercourses like streams, lakes and rivers.

When it’s not possible to use a soakaway, surface water drainage should be connected to the sewers.

If you make a surface water connection we’ll need to see evidence of why soakaways can’t be used.

This evidence must be one of:

An extract from the ground investigation report
Results from a percolation test
An email or letter from building control

If there are both foul and surface water sewers in your area, we’ll expect you to make a separate connection to each sewer.

If we have a combined sewer that you can connect to then you'll only need to apply for one connection. You’ll find combined sewers on the network maps. These are shown in red.

If you connect to a combined sewer, you should keep the flows separate until it leaves the boundary of your property and enters a combined manhole.

If the sewers are replaced by separate foul and surface water sewers in future this will ensure the flows are kept separate.

You need to employ a contractor to carry out the work to connect to a sewer.

If you're making a direct connection to a public sewer, you must share the following information about the contractor with us:

Contact details
Health and safety policy
Their site specific risk assessment
And a method statement

This will make sure we can check they’re safe to work on the sewer network.

If any of the sewer connections are within a public highway, your contractor will need to have the relevant licence from the council.

Make sure you check maps of our waste network to find out if any of our pipes or assets might need to be moved.

You may need to apply to have pipes and assets diverted, or you may need to apply for a build over if there are any public sewers on site.

We can’t give permission for you or your contractor to enter or carry out work on private land.

You’re responsible for arranging permission to work on land owned by a third party.