Britains sewage system

[PetHeaven]

Did anyone watch Panorama a week or so ago about sewage overflow outlets all around the country? They regularly chuck out untreated sewage into rivers and seas when they are under pressure-after heavy rain and storms. There are over 20,000 of them and only a quarter are monitored by the water companies.
I've looked about the forum and cant see a topic on it -but apologies if this has already come up!
Here are some links if you want to read more:
Marine Conservation Society link
http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk/?mapvar ... ecommended" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Surfers Against Sewage-good info on this website
and also the BBC Panorama website has lots of information on this subject.
E.g.Tintagel-Cornwall they just chuck it out as they have no proper sewage treatment system and Gurnsey used to be the same!!!

I just dispair of this type of behaviour from the water companies and the environment agencies-no-one is saying lets upgrade the sewers-coz it'd cost too much and then there'd be no profits to make-oh and our bills would go up too! Lets just chuck it in the sea instead.

Can I ask a really horrible question? Who chucks items down the loo that should really go into the bin? I was taught only to put toilet paper and what came out of my body down the loo (might have had something to do with the fact that my childhood home was old and the drains just wouldn't cope with much else). It seems like people are just dropping anything they want down the loo and flushing it away-rather that take time to put it in the household rubbish. But then that seems to be the way with people today-Sorry feeling very sad about this! How can we just flush and not think about it ending up on the beaches, and in the seas and rivers!
I'll stop now-can feel my blood pressure rising.

[p.penn]

I saw a programme on drains the other day and the men were in the main sewer clearing a blockage. They said it would be baby wipes and it was. Hundreds of them.

I can't help feeling that if wipes are causing so many problems, perhaps the manufacturers ought to be fined for producing that product, or at least unless they address the problem.

We cannot put anything other than loo paper down our loo as we have a septic tank.

[secret squirrel]

When my kids were babies and they were in nappies, we used to buy `nappy sack` and everything plus the nappy went in it and was put in the bin. While we were away on holiday that year the dains blocked and some of our neighbours blamed it on us, just because they knew we had young children. We were not even there We were actually on the Isle of Wight at the time.
We used to call the little sacks `poo bags`.
I agree with you PH, only what comes from your body and loo paper should be flushed.
lorna

[misty]

We have a septic tank as well but I think other people still throw all sorts down the loo. Baby products are the worse plus cotton buds. People don't care, out of sight out of mind.

[foghornleghorn2]

Drains are constantly blocked by all sorts that should never go down a toilet disposable nappies are the worst offenders.

The worst thing we ever did is privatise the water supply to this country. Our water company is French they just take as much money out as they can and carry out minimal maintenance. The day will come when the system will collapse and all these private companies will do a runner taking piles of our cash with them.

[Babycakes]

Baby wipes are indeed a curse - they are not designed to break up when wet (obviously - that would be gross!! ) and therefore stay in one piece when they go through the system. If there is even a small crack or rough part of the pipework, they snag - and then another, and another....
I speak from horrible personal experiance - when I worked in a nursery, the drains backed up badly and I was the only one brave enough to stick my arm into a shoulder-length rubber glove and unclog the drain. Which was an original Victorian one might I add. Oh the joys.....
I dont understand people who flush disposable nappies away though. Thats just stupid!

Just remebered, did you know you are not supopsed to put poo-y nappies in the household bins? All bodily waste is supposed to be double bagged and then taken away for incineration. If you use disposable nappies, you are supposed to remove as much solid waste as possible and flush it before putting the nappy in the bin.

[secret squirrel]

Disposable nappies have only beenaround for 25 years and have caused no end of problems. They may be easy for the general public to get rid of but they are a are not biodegradable and take forever to break down.
We used terry nappies with rubber pants and `frillies` over the top. You only had to put the thin liner down the loo, which flushed easily.

I did moan at my kids when they were small for putting tolilet roll tubes in the loo which did present a nuisance, but it just blocked at the top and we did on one occasion have to call `dino-rod` out at great expense. grrrr
lorna

[Orfy]

I think new houses should be built with blitzers, digester and filters.

[secret squirrel]

we have two bathrooms and the loos are both different designs. The upstairs one has the old fashioned `s`bend which gets blocked much more easily than the downstairs one which is a more modern design. They are both the same age but different designs.
The subject is similar to the recycling issue, in that lots of people dont think about cause and effect.
lorna

[Meanqueen]

Does that mean you have one for number 1's and the other for number 2's ?


Ilona

[secret squirrel]

No. Its one for me and one for im. ) Joking apart, when the kids were living at home and we were all trying to get out in the mornings, two bathrooms were an advantage. Its not nearly as posh as it sounds, I can assure you.
We had our house extended about 16 years ago so we had a new shower room put in downstairs. However we still have to `work round` OH though as he is a creature of habit.
lorna

[Teasal]

Being out in the sticks, we have a septic tank. But funny enough, across the river is a sewage farm. In recent years they have got their act together, and their discharge into the river is much cleaner. But two local factories have closed, and I think they probably had a lot to do with the stuff coming down the outlet pipe. At one time, it was all frothy all the smell was dreadful. After numerous complaints, there is now no smell and nothing horrible coming out of the pipes. We never smell it, but the village up the hill can get whiffy in hot weather - they add some flower smelling stuff then, and that smells almost as bad as the sewage!!

I was horrified when on a trip to the seaside to see stuff coming out of sewage pipes into the sea, and thought of all the times I had paddled in that sea as a youngster ...ugh.

I do think in this modern age something could be done to stop discharging into the sea etc.

[Totally Scrambled]

If you swim at the seaside near an outflow pipe you could always take up the sport of "log" rolling
Dom