Will Wessex Water clear my blocked drain?

Bristol has two water companies. Bristol Water supplies the clean water to your taps. Wessex Water takes the waste water away. So when a drain blocks, the company to think about is Wessex Water, not Bristol Water. Whether they will clear it depends on which pipe is blocked.

This matters a lot in Bristol’s Victorian terraces, where one drain often runs behind several houses before it reaches the sewer. Bedminster, Southville, Easton and Totterdown are full of homes built like that. If you are in BS3, our Bedminster area page explains the drainage layout we usually see there.

The rule in one line

Wessex Water says you are usually responsible for the pipes that serve your home up to your boundary, or up to where they join shared pipework, whichever is closer. You are also responsible for everything inside the house. Wessex Water is responsible for the public sewer beyond the boundary and for most shared sewer pipes.

Pipe	Who looks after it
Sinks, toilets, baths, soil stack, waste pipes inside	You
Drain from your home only, inside your boundary	You
Pipe shared with neighbours, connected to the public sewer	Usually Wessex Water
Public sewer in the road or beyond the boundary	Wessex Water
Gutters, downpipes, soakaways, septic tanks	You
Road gullies	The council

Why shared pipes changed hands

Before October 2011, shared private drains belonged to the homes they served. Neighbours had to split the bill when one blocked. That changed in England and Wales when most private sewers and lateral drains connected to the public network were transferred to the water companies. Citizens Advice explains the change.

For a Victorian terrace in Bristol, this is good news. The run behind a row of houses on a BS3 or BS5 street is often a shared sewer. A blockage on it is usually Wessex Water’s to clear.

How to tell which pipe is blocked

You can often work this out yourself with a torch.

1. Find your inspection chamber. It is the square or round cover in the garden, yard, side path or sometimes inside a rear extension. Terraces often have one in the back yard.
2. Lift the cover carefully. Use a screwdriver or a lifting key. Wear gloves. Keep children and pets away.
3. Look inside.
   • Chamber full of water. The blockage is further down, past your chamber. If the pipe beyond is shared or public, it may be Wessex Water’s.
   • Chamber empty but your sink or toilet will not drain. The blockage is between the house and the chamber. That is your pipe.
4. Check next door. If neighbours have the same problem at the same time, the blockage is likely on a shared section.

If you cannot find a chamber, Wessex Water can provide sewer records that show the approximate route of public sewers near you.

When to call Wessex Water

Call them if:

• Your chamber is full and the blockage is past your boundary.
• Several homes on the same run are backing up.
• Sewage is coming up in the street or flooding gardens.

Their blockages page has the latest contact details. If they find the blockage is on your private pipe, they will say so.

When you need a drainage contractor

If the problem is on your own pipe, Wessex Water points people to DrainSafe to find a private drainage contractor. That is a directory, not an endorsement of any one firm.

Typical private blockages common in Bristol terraces:

• Fat and wipes in the kitchen waste where it joins the yard gully.
• A blocked back inlet gully at the bottom of a downpipe, full of leaves.
• Scale and debris in an old cast iron soil stack. Our guide to soil stack replacement covers that.
• Roots in old clay pipes under a garden.

Our blocked drains page explains how we clear and check them.

Rainwater and combined drains

Many older Bristol streets have combined drains. That means rainwater from your roof and waste from your toilet go into the same pipe. In a heavy downpour the run can fill quickly, and a gully in a back yard may bubble or overflow for a short time, then clear. That is different from a blockage that stays put.

Newer estates, such as much of Bradley Stoke, are more likely to have separate pipes for foul water and surface water. If you are unsure which you have, the sewer records will usually show it. Gutters, downpipes and soakaways are always the owner’s job, so a blocked downpipe gully is yours to clear even if the sewer beyond it belongs to Wessex Water.

Things not to do

• Do not pour drain chemicals into a full chamber. They can splash and burn.
• Do not keep flushing a toilet that is not draining.
• Do not open a chamber cover that is cracked or loose without care. Old covers can drop in.

If you rent

If you rent your home, tell your landlord or agent straight away. Who pays for a blockage on a private pipe depends on the cause and your tenancy. Our guide to blocked drains in rented homes covers that.

Quick summary

Lift the cover. Full chamber with a shared pipe beyond it is likely Wessex Water. Empty chamber with a backed up sink is likely yours. Road gullies go to the council.