United Utilities are about to reveal plans to protect residents in Warrington from flooding. At times of heavy rainfall, residents in the Westy area of Warrington are always at risk from flooding due to the river Mersey bursting its banks. However, after the flood prevention scheme has been completed, hundreds of homes should no longer be at risk.

In conjunction with The Environment Agency and Warrington Borough Council, sewer and drainage company United Utilities are going to increase the height of the River Mersey embankment to provide increased flood defences.

There has been a history of flooding in Warrington from the River Mersey over the years, the latest incident being in 2000. A spokesperson from United Utilities commented:

“This proposed flood embankment stands to bring peace of mind to families in Westy living close to the River Mersey. Our plans would see the creation of a grassed embankment, blended as sensitively as possible into the existing landscape. Access will also be maintained to existing riverside footpaths.

“The embankment is one piece of a bigger jigsaw to protect homes in Warrington from flooding. We are very pleased that we have an opportunity to play a part in this major project.”

If you have just moved into your home, you may have had a survey on the condition of the property. This survey may have detailed points of note where work may have to be carried out in the future to keep the property in good living order. However, rarely does a home survey take a look at the condition of your waste water drainage.

Like any other part of your property, the drains that leave your home need checking from time to time to see if they are in good working order. However, because they are rarely seen and rarely cause problems, most homeowners do nothing until it’s too late.

Any person who buys a new home should check the condition of the waste water pipes that leave their home. For homes that are decades old, these pipes may be slowly degenerating and have the potential to cause problems in the future. A drainage team have all the equipment needed to perform a CCTV inspection of your drains to check their overall condition. Many also offer maintenance contracts which can be used by the homeowner as a form of insurance policy against a drainage problem occurring.

It’s always better to know the likelihood of a problem occurring than waiting to see if something does or doesn’t happen. It’s only when you’ve taken everything into consideration and made the relevant checks that you can make an informed decision.

Drainage issues range from simple slow flowing sinks to complete sewer blockages. Whereas it might take a drainage company some time and specialist equipment to unblock a clogged sewer, you can actually solve problems with slow flowing sinks yourself.

Occasionally you might notice that the water which drains away from your sink is taking longer than usual to drain away. The most common reason for this is the build up of deposits in the drainage pipe that sits just underneath your sink. You can usually sort out problems like this easily.

Some sinks have a U-bend piece of waste pipe just under the sink which can get clogged with debris. It’s usually easy to remove this small section of pipe by unscrewing it from the sink and the adjoining section of pipe. The debris in here can then be emptied into the general waste.

If you don’t fancy getting your hands dirty, instead of removing this pipe you can pour hot water down the sink to see if this shifts the clog. If it doesn’t, the next thing to try is a drain unblocking product. You can buy these from most DIY stores. When you pour this down the sink and leave it for a period of time as detailed on the product instructions, it will break up the deposit and debris so your sink will be able to flow freely again.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to remove a blockage from a drain or sewer pipe is with a set of drain rods. The rods push the blockage through the drainage system to an inspection point, from where it can be removed. However, most drainage companies no longer perform rodding on a blocked drain. They instead opt for high pressure water jetting.

The favourite tool of the drainage expert is the high pressure water jet. The water, when directed down the sewer, has enough pressure to dispel the blockage and break it up into small fragments, which then flush easily down the drain. The problem with rodding is that a drainage company may not be able to remove the blockage in its entirety, something which jetting should always be able to do.

Some London drainage companies use a sophisticated form of jetting, where in conjunction with a CCTV survey they can actually see the blockage and aim the water jet directly at it to break up the clog. This way the drainage company can actually see exactly what is happening, so they are able to make critical decisions regarding the cause of the problem. If they use a CCTV survey they may also find that the reason the clog occurred in the first place. It could be the clog occurred because of damage to the drainage pipe or build up of scale in the pipe, something which rodding alone cannot achieve.

It can be tricky finding a reliable drainage company, especially if you live in a large city like London. London’s residents face problems all the time with blocked drains and sewers, so they always need to keep the number of a reliable drainage firm to hand who they can call in an emergency.

The sewers in London struggle to cope with the use they get from the city’s residents on a daily basis. They were built over a century ago, and since then the city’s population has exploded. Although the city’s sewers are quite old, many of the problems residents suffer from are actually caused by people putting incorrect items in the sewer system and are not the local Water company’s fault.

The main problem sewers face is with the build up of fat. Many domestic and commercial properties still pour liquid fat into the sewer system to dispose of it. However, the fat does not wash through the sewer system to the local treatment works. It instead hardens when cool and clogs up the sewer pipes, reducing their diameter drastically.

Sometimes the fat that clogs a sewer line can only be shifted by removing it manually – and the only people who can do this are the drainage experts in London who operate 24/7.