Private sewer adoption good for local brook

Water bills in Gloucestershire are set to increase by up to £13 for every household following the Government decision to transfer responsibility for nearly 35,000 miles of private sewers and drains to Severn Trent and Thames Water. This means both water companies will be responsible for the maintenance and repairs for the sewer network - and therefore facing extra costs which will be added to customers bills.

The exact costs are unclear as the condition of the network to be adopted is uncertain - average bills last year already increased by 7.5% in Gloucestershire.

Clearly adopting the sewers is essential and should have happenned long ago - locally hours have been wasted working out responsibilities re sewers and then trying to trace owners - indeed Stroud District Council's Drainage Officer managed to get one private sewer in the Ruscombe Valley adopted last year by Severn Trent after hours and hours of work. This has led to considerable improvements on that section but other private sewers exist along the brook so this latest news is good as it should make it easier to clean up our brook.

All this only confirms what I've said before - we need water companies back in public ownership -see my letter to press last November re Thames Water .