How to avoid a DIY drainage disaster and protect our environment
24 March 2021
Over the past year, it has been essential for all of us to spend a lot more time at home helping to keep everyone safe from Coronavirus. Working from home, socialising at home, exercising at home, and home-schooling have made a lot of us examine our living environments and question if they are still fit for purpose.
However, if you have been sprucing up your home with a new kitchen, bathroom or even an extension you might be polluting your local environment without knowing it.
Plumbing and drainage misconnections are a big problem for us as they pollute rivers and beaches throughout our operating area. If wastewater or sewage is connected to a surface water drain and not to the foul water sewer, it may result in harm to the local environment, including wildlife.
It is estimated that if a washing machine is misconnected and used once a day for a whole year, it will discharge 18,250 litres of wastewater into the local environment. That’s the equivalent of 1217 standard size buckets.
Richard Davies, Welsh Water’s Sewerage Manager for Swansea, West and Hereford said: “We can all play a part in protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations by making sure our own homes are not misconnected, especially as property owners are responsible for putting right any misconnections from their home.
“You can also help to raise awareness of this issue on #NationalDrainageMisconnectionDay (24 March) by sharing social media content from @ConnectRightUK and from our own social channels.”
Advice and support on what to do if you think there might be a misconnection on your property can be found here .
It’s also really important that if you spot a possible misconnection or a pollution incident when you’re out and about, that you let us know so we can investigate – get in touch on 0800 0853968 or pollutionrisk@dwrcymru.com