Surface water drainage and highways drainage
Surface water drainage
Surface water is the rainwater that drains from your property into the sewer. Your company collects and treats this surface water. There is a charge for this service.
You will pay for surface water drainage in your bill either:
- as part of the volumetric rate
- as a fee in the standing charge
- through a charge based on the rateable value of your property, or
- through a charge related to the type of property you live in
If you can prove that the surface rainwater from your property does not drain into the public sewer, you may be entitled to a rebate on your bill from your sewerage company. Your company will not normally backdate rebates for periods before the current charging year.
If you qualify for a rebate you will receive it through a lower charge. The level of rebate can be found in your sewerage company’s charging scheme.
Highways drainage
Companies treat water that falls onto the public roads and drains to the public sewers and collect a charge for this. The costs of this highway drainage service are not related to the amount of water that you use or to the value or size of your property, so there is no particular way of recovering these costs. Highway drainage benefits everyone who uses the road network either directly or indirectly. As a result, there is a case for recovering the costs of this service from highway authorities or from road users. At present, however, the law prevents this.
Your charges for highway drainage can be found in your company’s charges scheme.
