Drainage can become blocked for a number of reasons, but one problem that drain maintenance companies face on a regular basis is caused by the infiltration of roots into the drain.

Roots find their way into the drainage system when they work their way through tiny cracks in the drain or between different sections of drainage. The roots quickly multiply when they find an easy source of water and it’s not too long before they block the drain completely. Drain jetting alone will not get rid of the roots that block a drain, so drain maintenance companies have to use specialist equipment to unblock drains.

A spinning root cutter is employed by drain maintenance companies who insert the mechanical device into the drain to trim the roots back to the drain’s diameter. Because the integrity of the drain will have been compromised by the roots when they found their way into the pipe, the pipe will usually need a liner repair. This can be done quite easily and the drain will usually not need to be excavated to carry out the liner repair.

If you live in a large city like London you will need to pay careful attention to the maintenance of your drainage system. Drains can become blocked for a variety of reasons, but in London they are usually blocked because of misuse or overuse.

When drains are expected to cope with a larger volume of waste than was previously thought, they often become blocked. This happens when a city grows over the years and the population causes problems to the infrastructure that is already in place. Because of this, residents need to have the phone number of a reputable drain maintenance company to hand, so blockages can be solved quickly and easily.

One of the services that drain maintenance companies offer is called drain jetting. A high pressure jet of water is directed down the drain, which can move and break down the clog of waste material. Drain jetting is simple and quick to do and the results are excellent. If the blockage cannot be removed by drain jetting however, there may become a need to conduct a CCTV survey. The company will inset a camera into the drain and images of the drain are relayed to a computer screen. This enables the London drain maintenance company to see what is causing the problem and instigate a repair.

South West water has pledged to spend £159m over the next couple of years to upgrade water and sewerage systems in the region. The spend is part of the water company’s commitment to spend over £700m by 2015.

Some of the things South West water hope to achieve include:

• Expand their WaterCare programme
• Help customers using the £1m FreshStart fund
• Restore 500 hectares of wetland on Exmoor and Dartmoor
• Open a new reservoir near Bodmin moor
• Spend £10m on the repair and upgrade of sewer systems across the region
• Spend £14m improving drinking water quality

South West Water published their domestic and commercial charges on Friday, with an estimated 20,000 customers reducing the amount they pay by switching to a water meter this year.

Chris Loughlin the chief executive stated:

“We will be making a huge £159 million investment in the infrastructure and economy of our region when many other organisations will be reducing their spend. I am sure that will come as good news to hundreds of our suppliers and the thousands who work for them.

“Our investment over the last 20 years has helped underpin the South West economy while protecting its environment. We will keep doing that but in new ways such as our pioneering Upstream Thinking programme to restore wetlands. This will lessen the need to build more costly treatment plants by naturally purifying raw water long before it reaches us.

“We also know some customers do have problems paying their bills. That’s why we are offering water-saving packs to all our customers this year and using local Citizens Advice Bureaux and debt advisors across the region to get help to those in most need under our £1million FreshStart scheme.

“Our much-praised WaterCare scheme has already helped thousands and we will be expanding it to offer free energy audits and grants advice as well as water-saving devices, benefit and metering checks.”

Severn Trent water is continuing work in Stock Green to connect the town to the public sewer network. Previously, residents in the town had to make use of septic tanks and cess pits as a method to collect their sewerage.

Earls Common Road will however reopen for one day only so the Droitwich half marathon can take place on the 6th of March.

Severn Trent are working with their partner Morgan Sindall plc on the project, who are constricting the new sewer system in two parts.

The first section of sewer was started in November 2010, with a rising main that was eventually connected to Priest Green Waste Water Treatment works. The second part of the works sees a vacuum sewer installation throughout the town.

Earls Common Road has been closed since the beginning of January to allow the vacuum sewer to be connected throughout the town, and isn’t expected to reopen until at least the end of April, except of course for the marathon runners next weekend.

Opposition to the proposed ‘super sewer’ in London has prompted Thames Water to think about revising the route of the sewer system.

Public concern about using a site at King’s Stairs Gardens has meant that Thames Water have unveiled new plans to instead alter the course of the sewer slightly and use land at Chambers Wharf in Bermonsey.

If the sewer gets the go-ahead it will cost £3.6bn to construct and will run the 20 miles from west to east London. Currently, at times of heavy rainfall, sewage is directed directly into the River Thames. However, when complete, the ‘super sewer’ will take this excess water away to be treated at local sewage treatment works.

Thames Water head of London tideway Tunnels stated they had just purchased the land at Chambers Wharf, he said:

“I must stress that this does not mean we will definitely use it or that we have discounted King’s Stairs Gardens,

“When Chambers Wharf came up for sale we had to act quickly to ensure we could consider the land in detail as a potential site. It is vital that we keep our options open.

“There is still a lot more work to be done, including further discussions with local communities, before we make any final decisions about the construction sites we need.”

The planning application is due to be submitted in 2012.