Severn Trent Water is appealing for its customers to help them locate a large number of private pumping stations, which will soon become the company’s responsibility to maintain. A change in legislation from October 2016 will mean Severn Trent will be owning and maintaining these pumping stations, which will be welcome news for some customers who may find them costly and difficult to maintain.

Sam Oliver, spokesperson for Severn Trent Water, explains: “October 2016 is just under a year away, but we think there are still many pumping stations across the Severn Trent region which will become our responsibility that we have not yet found.

“The pumping stations, which could be in our customers’ back gardens or on land adjacent to their homes, help to pump waste from their home to the local sewage treatment works.

“These stations vary in shape and size - they could be as small as a manhole cover or as big as an outhouse at the bottom of a garden. Customers will know if they have one as they will generally be paying for the electricity and a maintenance contract. We would like our customers to contact us and tell us if they have one so thatwe can understand if it needs transferring and if so, plan to start maintaining it for them in 2016.”

Back in 2011 Severn Trent took ownership of its customers’ private drains and sewers. Now the next step will be to take ownership of customers pumping stations.

Sam adds: “We would really encourage people to ‘hand over’ their pumping station so that we can maintain it for them. The transfer of private drains, sewers and pumping stations is a positive for everyone – it means that if anyone has a blocked or collapsed drain or sewer, it’snow clearer whois responsible for repairs. In addition, from October 2016, we will run and maintain the pumping stations if they meet the criteria for transfer.”