NewsIn Brief

After nearly two years of serious sewage issues and much legal wrangling, a householder in Cheshire is finally free of drainage problems, thanks to Lanes for Drains.

A highway gully — sometimes spelt ‘gulley’ — is a drainage point typically covered by a metal grate at the side of the road. The gully is connected to the surface water sewer and its job is to take away excess water from the highway.

Surface water drains, including land drains and most road drains, are designed to carry only uncontaminated rainwater to a local river, stream or soakaway. Run-off which is contaminated by silt, chemicals or oil, could pollute the watercourse.

Lanes for Drains has used its 21st Century sewer surveillance technology to reveal the 200-year-old hidden secrets of one of the UK’s largest man-made reservoirs.

Surface water drainage is taken for granted. We expect all those grates and gulleys to cope with anything, right? Even when we don’t bother to make sure they’re capable of taking the strain. And it’s not hard to see how drains become clogged — general silt and debris such as leaf mulch will quickly block surface water gullies and aco drainage.

Leading drainage firm Lanes for Drains has a father and son team with a difference – because it’s the son who is in charge.

Misconnection of washing machines and dishwashers is a common problem in domestic properties. One water company reported as many as 400 incidents in which household drains and appliances were incorrectly plumbed in to the wrong drainage system — surface water rather than foul water.

Loss of track ballast and a hole in rail sidings at Liverpool prompted contractor Amalgamated Construction Ltd (Amco) to call in Lanes, with its sophisticated remote control cameras, to get to the bottom of the problem.