Application guidance for sewer adoption

What you need to know, do or check before you apply for a sewer adoption. 

Before you begin

Before you are ready to apply for sewer adoption, you must: 

  1. Know where the sewer you want adopted is 
  2. Know the type of connection you need 
  3. Have your contractor’s contact details, health and safety policy, a site-specific risk assessment, and a method statement 
  4. Ensure you contractor has any relevant licenses from your local council 
  5. Know if there are any pipes or assets belonging to us that need to be moved 
  6. Have permission to lay a pipe on land owned by a third party if necessary 
  7. 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 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. 

New developments are to follow the surface water hierarchy when designing the sewers. Therefore soakaways or discharging into a local watercourse are to be investigated first.

When it’s not possible to use a soakaway or watercourse, 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 built 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.