A story in the North West Evening Mail over the weekend demonstrates the difficulty private sewers pose for water companies. In short, a private sewer draining a new development from 2005 is leaking sewage onto the railway line. (There is some confusion in the article over whether this is because the sewer is damaged or misconnected to a surface water drain. For the sake of argument let's say it's simply damaged en route to United Utilities' sewer system). Because the sewage is seeping onto a railway line, residents are faced with a £500,000 (or up to £55,000 per house) bill to sort it out. Understandably, householders are pretty het up - the leak is half a mile away from their property and they had no idea it was their responsibility.

For this reason, you could argue that the upcoming transfer of private sewers to water company ownership can't come soon enough, despite water company concerns. However, the same story could be used to argue that private sewers are just too much of a liability for water companies at the present juncture. With pressure mounting to keep bills down and all sorts of factors pushing costs up, sewerage companies don't need the added uncertainty of miles and miles of sewers in unknown condition.

It's important to remember, though, that not all costs are financial. Up and down the country, when residents discover their responsibility for sewers, they are quick to blame their sewerage company, and quick to go to the local press. This isn't right and it's certainly not fair, but it's true. For example, in the story above, United Utilities aren't to blame and have behaved well, but still they're being harangued from all sides. The council's chief environmental health officer, who should know better, said: ""If UU accepts that it has some responsibility in this and agree to carry out the work then we will take no more action." A resident sums up the view that comes out time and time again in disputes over private sewers: "We pay sewerage and water rates to United Utilities so if they're taking our money why should we be responsible for it?"

When lobbying to delay the sewer transfer date, sewerage companies should consider the significant costs to their reputation caused by the current situation.

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