The Kent History Forum
Industry => Water Supply and Sewage => Topic started by: Mike Gunnill on June 06, 2020, 10:43:22 AM
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I moved into a new house and for years paid the standing request from Southern Water. There is a section where you pay for the water that goes down your street drains. I can't remember the exact wording. I then found out my street drains are soak-aways and I shouldn't have paid this percent of my account. They "gladly" refunded that percent I had paid. Might be worth checking.
And it got another virgin forum off and running
Mike ;)
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My sister lived on a small private development in Kent that had a (private) sewage system with a pump.It was below the main road system. For 5 years she tried to find out who supplied the electricity but all companies denied it was them! Suddenly one of them woke up and tried to send in a bill for about 7 years worth. But in the end they paid about 1/2 as there was a limit! It was all taken over by Southern Water when the Government made it law about three years ago.
mmitch.
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I live in a housing association home.
A few years ago now our front garden was awash with sewage on a Boxing Day of course . Trying to get that sorted between Southern Water and MHS was awful, they both denied ownership. We have a manhole cover in the main pavement in between ours and next door where it was coming from. That actually is from the houses on the opposite side of the road to us. Fortunately SW found it was their problem but oh the mess and pong. Two years after that it happened again but this time was a failure of the main pipe from those houses which goes straight through into my garden , they had to dig up the side path and replace the whole length of pipe as it was cracked. More of the flaming stuff everywhere . It didn't cost us anything just inconvenience , I just wish it could have been sorted out a little bit quicker and we had clear up our front garden.
Hope it was OK to add this.
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I live in a housing association home.
A few years ago now our front garden was awash with sewage on a Boxing Day of course . Trying to get that sorted between Southern Water and MHS was awful, they both denied ownership. We have a manhole cover in the main pavement in between ours and next door where it was coming from. That actually is from the houses on the opposite side of the road to us. Fortunately SW found it was their problem but oh the mess and pong. Two years after that it happened again but this time was a failure of the main pipe from those houses which goes straight through into my garden , they had to dig up the side path and replace the whole length of pipe as it was cracked. More of the flaming stuff everywhere . It didn't cost us anything just inconvenience , I just wish it could have been sorted out a little bit quicker and we had clear up our front garden.
Hope it was OK to add this.
Wow this new section of the forum, is the place to be! Neighbour had his main drain blocked, toilet backing up. Not very nice at all. Special people came in and cleared the drain but found bones. They called the police. Turned out the previous owner had pushed a half eaten chicken down his toilet. No accounting for some. For a while the rest of the close kept looking at us, as child murderers! Glad the police announced the findings to everyone and we were able to go out again without being stoned!
Mike
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How charming ! Can't imagine anyone putting chicken bones or the like down the loo. Glad your neighbours found it wasn't you.
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I work in the drainage industry, you may have seen my employers yellow lorries running around. My job takes me to sewage works and pumping stations all over the south-east of England. Further to Mike and Lyn's points, I've done a job in London where the drains were blocked with chicken bones. It turned out that one of the tenants in a very large block of flats in Central London (EC1 postcode area) was running a food delivery business from their flat. Mind you, I've also jetted live ammunition out of a sewer in Southall too.
I put up a few sewage related posts in the Guess the Place game on the old Forum, one was of a building at Minster-in-Thanet sewage works, the other was of the Combined Sewer Overflow Screen off William Street in Rainham.
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Stuart.... I have to ask as I keep wondering if Waters is your surname or just used because of your job?
One of my friends had a science teacher called Miss Rocket ;D
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That could make it --- Stew It Waters. ( if you say it quick) -- vvvrrrrooooooooooommm ) boom boom
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Stuart.... I have to ask as I keep wondering if Waters is your surname or just used because of your job?
It's a fair cop guv, society's to blame
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When I used to work at a food distribution centre in Snodland, we had a terrible problem with the sewers in the VMU (Vehicle Maintenance Unit) and the smell was unbearable. When the engineers turned up in the big SuperSucker lorry (from the yellow tanker services company - could it have been Stuart?) they discovered the main sewer blocked with a large lump of concrete, a family-sized pack of 12 pork pies (still in their wrapper) and one of those dolls that look like a baby!
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How long ago was that? I work on the yellow supersuckers, but don't remember that job. If anyone was out and about in the Tonbridge High Street area in the evenings a few weeks ago, I was on that job. Similar problem, concrete in the sewer.
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Did they put the pork pies down for the baby doll to eat ..... Sorry couldn't resist 8) x It's OK I'll log off now byeee
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This happened sometime between 2006 and 2008. Sorry I can't be more specific, I used to be at a different depot every week and you know how the days/months/years all blur into one! As my work now takes me to the big yellow tanker depot in Medway and to the one in Ashford, I'll keep an eye out for you. You'll be easy to spot if you look like your avatar.... ;D
Lyn L - your comment made me chuckle, but as the pork pies were unwrapped I'm guessing that the doll was vegetarian!
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Thinking about sewer systems,wich I was not till I read the titilating story of things underground below.wonder how many among our learned brethren are aware of the extensive sewer and water systems that lay below the old dockyard,all of the dry dock facilities had tunnel fed pumping systems ,obviously to empty same,the old saw mills had a system to facilitate the movment of bulk timber
Allso the mast pond had an underground system,plus a domestic system built during the construction of the yard,wonder if thay just been abandoned or are still in use today.i know one system emptying directly into the Medway had a large iron tidal door fitted,probably all filled in and sealed now.
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See https://www.kenthistoryforum.com/index.php?topic=438.msg3783#msg3783 (https://www.kenthistoryforum.com/index.php?topic=438.msg3783#msg3783) where pumping air or water into No 2 basin is discussed.
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I'm based at the Medway depot and have one of the brand new Scania supersuckers, a 6-wheeler. Brilliant piece of kit. And no, I don't wear a tricorn hat, carry a brace of pistols or wave a dagger ;D
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When you've been cleaning out sewers, have you ever disturbed any bilgerats? ;)
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I'm based at the Medway depot and have one of the brand new Scania supersuckers, a 6-wheeler. Brilliant piece of kit. And no, I don't wear a tricorn hat, carry a brace of pistols or wave a dagger ;D
That's a shame. I'll have to check our merch catalogues to see if I can get you a Scania hi-viz safety tricorn hat with reflective eye patch and bandana. Protective, eye-catching AND stylish...... ;D
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I'm based at the Medway depot and have one of the brand new Scania supersuckers, a 6-wheeler. Brilliant piece of kit. And no, I don't wear a tricorn hat, carry a brace of pistols or wave a dagger ;D
That's a shame. I'll have to check our merch catalogues to see if I can get you a Scania hi-viz safety tricorn hat with reflective eye patch and bandana. Protective, eye-catching AND stylish...... ;D
If you can get them in hi-viz orange, that'd be great ;D
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Back in the days before these large water authorities, Supply & Sewage was undertaken by the local councils. I imagine the artesian water supply down in the valley at Luton would have supplied the whole of the Medway towns. My Dad was an apprentice to a firm of artesian well borers in Chatham High Street in 1911- their HQ was in Woolwich I believe. Does anyone know whether it was a private co. or owned jointly by Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham Councils. I seem to remember sewage works in different parts of the towns. And the forerunners of Stuart's " goliath"- but not castle's horse & cart- were dark green tankers, with council name on the side & swinging arm with rubber sleeve that went down the roadside drains to empty the sump. I suppose it was relatively clean rainwater, so easy to dispose of. I'm sure Stuart can enlighten us on the disposal "tanks"? that get rid, or store, " nasties"? I think it would make interesting reading to the layman. We take so much for granted.
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Waste from roadside rainwater gullies is unfortunately not easy to dispose of. Because it's come off the road, it will be contaminated with oil, so needs to be disposed of properly at a site which can separate out the oil. Facilities which accept this kind of waste are FM Conway in Dartford or CSG in Aylesford.
Sewage from sewer cleans is usually taken to the same places that the cess-pool tankers go, to any one of a number of sewage treatment works. The waste is pumped through a logger which measures the amount of waste you're putting through it. This waste then goes into the works with the normal sewage and is processed.
Sewage Works which take cess-pool waste in the Medway Area are:
Whitewall Creek Works
Ham Hill Works
Aylesford Works.
Other places I go to discharge through cess loggers in Kent are: Tonbridge, Ashford, Canterbury, Wetherlees Hill (between Ramsgate and Sandwich) and New Romney.
For a Pump Station clean, the situation is a little more complex, because pumping stations usually have a large fatberg floating in them. Because the "rag" element of the fatberg will block up a logger, this usually has to go to a specialist facility. Two I use regularly are CFS in Hoo (Kingsnorth Industrial Estate) and RWR (Stratford in East London).
Because the truck I'm on can recycle sewage and re-use it for high pressure drain jetting, excess water just gets put back into the sewer when the job is finished. When cleaning a pump station, it's standard practice to put the water back into the wet well, where the sewage goes and is held before it's pumped, either to the next pump station in the chain or to the nearest sewage works.
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We don't appear to have a "good read" section, so I'll pop this here as the next best place.
I've just finished re-reading Dulcie Lewis' fascinating book "Kent Privies". Well worth a read both for the detail and the humour (though it is a bit "jolly hockey sticks"). There's the tale of the lady sat on the seat when a weasel grabbed her bottom, but for Stuart's caution I'll just describe the sad tale of the public health inspector. He attended one dwelling where there had been persistent complaints of a blocked toilet at one dwelling. The council works department were calling in and on inspecting the manhole saw that the channel was dry. So, they got the rods out and started pushing to clear the obstruction. Loud screams were heard and an "irate lady" appeared who informed the workmen that she had been "enthroned" at the time the rods came through! ;D
Book details:| Author | Dulcie Lewis |
| Place | Newbury |
| Publisher | Countryside Books |
| ISBN | 978-1-85306-419-7 |
| Date | 1997 |
| Call Number | 696.182094223 |
| Library Catalog | K10plus ISBN |
| Language | eng |
| # of Pages | 125 |