Ironbridge · TF8

Emergency Drainage in Ironbridge

What to do first when a tank overflows, sewage backs up or a drain floods, and how to reach a local specialist once the immediate risk is contained. Serving Ironbridge and the surrounding villages, including Coalbrookdale, Coalport, Madeley, Buildwas.

Call 01743 562954 Describe your problem

Photo: Colin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Some drainage problems can wait for a convenient appointment. Sewage backing up into a bathroom cannot. Neither can an overflowing septic tank or cesspit, a collapsed drain flooding a yard, or a treatment plant in alarm at a holiday let.

When something fails in the gorge the geography sets the pace. The slopes are steep, the tributary brooks reach the Severn quickly, and a spill on this ground does not stay local for long, in a valley whose water quality carries heritage as well as environmental weight. Access is the complicating factor: narrow one-way roads, visitor parking, and properties with no vehicle access at all. Knowing in advance where a vehicle can stand and how far the hose has to reach is the difference between a problem that is contained and one that runs down the hill.

Mains sewerage reaches the main gorge settlements, but the properties strung along the valley sides and the farms on the plateau above frequently do not have it. Cottages built for ironworkers and tile makers, converted works buildings and isolated houses up the side valleys run on private systems, many of them old, undocumented and inherited with the house.

How emergency drainage works, in full →

Access and practicalities around Ironbridge

The gorge roads are narrow, steep and often one-way, with parking pressure from visitors on top. Many houses stand well above or below the road with no vehicle access at all, so tanker positioning and long hose runs are the norm rather than the exception, and heavy vehicles need thought about where they can safely stand.

Local watercourses around Ironbridge

The Severn runs the length of the gorge, and the steep tributary valleys feed it directly and quickly. There is very little distance and even less time between a failing system on these slopes and the river, in a valley whose water quality is watched closely on both environmental and heritage grounds.

What to do right now

Stop using water in the property. No toilets, showers, dishwasher or washing machine, because every litre that goes in has to come out somewhere
Keep people and animals well away from standing sewage, and wash hands and any skin that has touched it thoroughly
Never enter a septic tank, cesspit or treatment plant, and never lean in. These are confined spaces holding hydrogen sulphide and methane, and the air in them can kill in seconds
Keep tank covers closed and secure, and keep children and pets away from any cover that has been lifted or damaged
If sewage is reaching a ditch, stream, brook or river, report it to the Environment Agency incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, which is staffed around the clock
If effluent has entered the house, shut off the affected rooms and keep it away from anywhere food is prepared or stored
Photograph the affected area before any clean-up, for your insurer and for whoever attends
Note when it started and what changed just before, because that is the first thing any contractor will ask

Around Ironbridge

As well as Ironbridge itself, the surrounding villages and farms are covered, including Coalbrookdale, Coalport, Madeley, Buildwas, Leighton, Sutton Maddock, Beckbury, Ryton, Barrow, Kemberton. If you are somewhere smaller or somewhere between, get in touch anyway.