Private Sewer Transfer – Update
01/11/2011
For the past few years one of the biggest talking points in the UK water industry has been the approach of the Private Sewers Transfer into the ownership and responsibility of the main water companies in England and Wales.
The run up to the actual transfer date of 1 October 2011 has been anything but simple. The discussions have largely centred on what pipe systems/lengths would be part of the transfer. Whilst there were originally thought to be something in the region of 400,000km of what were private pipelines across the UK, the lowest estimate figure of 200,000km for the transfer shows that a significant proportion of the drains serving residences etc will remain in private hands and will remain the responsibility of private land and property owners.
Guidelines have been developed with reference to reactive problem solving, call-outs (blockages, collapses etc). However there is still the suggestion/concern that with the Water Companies now taking the first call-out to a problem and then deciding on inspection if there is a responsibility or not on its part, the level of competition within the market will become artificially limited.
At this early stage after the transfer this is an aspect of the initiative that will take some time to clarify and to what extent it will damage or reduce the availability of smaller contractors with the expertise to carry out this, generally, smaller diameter, lower volume work.
It has been seen that drainage contractors, WaSCs, insurers, housing associations and local authorities share the potential problems of the transfer and they are all to a degree uncertain about how they will work together to resolve issues under the new regime.
Defra and WaterUK released guidance on the transfer and Ofwat also released its own guidance which focused on its role, which is to determine appeals from affected parties. Local authorities, meanwhile, face confusion around their roles and legal powers over WaSCs. A survey by UK Drainage Protocol found that 44% of EHPs believe they can serve statutory nuisance notices on transferred systems if a serious defect remains unresolved by WaSCs, but a further 30% disagree.
Whilst it is still too early to establish just how well the transfer initiative will work and in whose favour, there are still many fences to jump and, to some observers, mountains to climb before the true outcome becomes clear and the full extent of what the Water Companies have taken on is known. It appears that this initiative will be unfolding for many years to come. What this means for WASCs. Contractors (both large and small), regulators and the public in general appears still to be very much in the air. What is clear however is that whichever way the initiative moves in the future and whoever turns out to be responsible for what, there is an absolute need for very clear communication, not just between the WaSCs and their contractors and their customers but between all parties involved including insurers and the remaining private sewer owners as well as the general public. Without this transparency and clarity there can only be problems and arguments.